PS ^^H^H 

-Wo ^H 




Class 



/• \ 



Book 



Gpightl^^. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



-^ F ^ J 





^p<- 



■^C^^A^ — /^^^^^^ 




How Salvator Won 

AND 

OTHER RECITATIONS 

ELLA WHEELER WILCOX 

Author of " Maurine," "Poems of Passion," "Poems of Pleasure," 

" Mal MoulSe," "Adventures of Miss Volnev," 

"A Double Life," Etc. 



\ 



New York 

189I 



l^a.%^G 



V^ 



/ 






COPYRIGHT, 1891, 

BV 
EDGAR S. WERNER. 



PRKKACK. 



T AM constantly urged by readers and impersonators 
to furnish them with verses for recitation. In re- 
sponse to this ever-increasing demand I have selected, 
for this volume, the poems which seem suitable for such 
a purpose. 

In making my collection I have been obliged to use, 
not those which are among my best efforts in a literary 
or artistic sense, but those w^hich contain the best 
dramatic possibilities for professionals. Several of the 
poems are among my earliest efforts, others w^ere v^ritten 
expressly for this book. In " Meg's Curse," which has 
never before been in print, and in several others, I 
ignored all rules of art for the purpose of giving the 
public reader a better chance to exercise his elocution- 
ary powers, 

E. W. W. 



CONTTKNTrS. 

~~ PAGE 

About May, 132 

After the Engagement, . . . . 24 

Answered, 128 

As You Go Through Life, . . . 105 

Baby in the House, A, .... 80 

Babyland, 71 

Beautiful Blue Danube, The, , .120 

Birth of the Opal, The, . . . 122 

Breaking the Day in Two, • • • 95 

Coming Man, The, 143 

Dell and I, 135 

Dick's Family, 147 

Fable, A, 48 

Falling of Thrones, The, ... 65 

False, 29 

Fishing, 73 



6 CONTENTS, 

PAGE 

Foolish Elm, The, .... .82 

Gethsemane, 141 

Giddy Girl, The, 133 

GiRL^'s Autumn Reverie, A, . . . 139 

Gossips, The, . . . . . . .13 

Grandpa's Christmas, . . . .20 

Her Last Letter, ...... 67 

His Youth, 38 

How Does Love Speak, . . . , 103 

How Salvator Won, 9 

Illogical, 58 

Kingdom of Love, The, .... 34 

Lady and the Dame, The, .... 109 
Man's Repentance, A, . . . . 145 

Maniac, The, 99 

Married Coquette, A, . . . . iii 

Meg's Curse, ....... 44 

Memory's River, ..... 106 

Messenger, The, 55 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGE 

New Year Resolve, , ... . .86 
"Now I Lay Me," ..... 54 

Old Stage Queen, The, . . . -75 

Peek-a-Boo, ^i 

Phantom Ball, The, 32 

Pin, a, 92 

Platonic, 16 

Plea, A, 115 

Princess's Finger Nail, The, ... 77 
Rape of the Mist, The, . . . . 97 

Robin's Mistake, 84 

Servian Legend, A, 60 

Sign-Board, The, 130 

Solitude, . 18 

Sounds from the Base-Ball Field, . . 124 
Suicide, The, ....... 51 

Summer Girl, A, . . .. . . -117 

Two Glasses, The, 90 

Two Sinners, 42 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Under the Sheet, .... 36 

Vanity Fair, ... . 137 

Waltz-Quadrille, A, 126 

Wanted — A Little Girl, .... 40 

Watcher, The^ 27 

Way of It, The, ...... 50 

What is Flirtation, ..... 102 

What We Want, 88 




HOW SALVATOR WON. 

HE gate was thrown open, I rode out alone, 
More proud than a monarch who sits on a 
throne, 
am but a jockey, yet shout upon shout 
Went up from the people who watched me 
ride out ; 

And the cheers that rang forth from that warm- 
hearted crowd. 
Were as earnest as those to which monarch e'er 
bowed. 

My heart thrilled with pleasure so keen it was pain 
As I patted my Salvator's soft silken mane ; 
And a sweet shiver shot from his hide to my hand 
As we passed by the multitude down to the stand. 

The great waves of cheering came billowing back. 
As the hoofs of brave Tenny rang swift down the 

track ; 
And he stood there beside us, all bone and all 

muscle. 
Our noble opponent, well trained for the tussle 
That waited us there on the smooth, shining course. 
My Salvator, fair to the lovers of horse, 



16 HOtV S ALVA TOR WON, 

As a beautiful woman is fair to man's sight — 
Pure type of the thoroughbred, clean-limbed and 

bright,— 
Stood taking the plaudits as only his due, 
And nothing at all unexpected or new. 

And then, there before us the bright flag is spread, 
There's a roar from the grand stand, and Tenny's 

ahead ; 
At the sound of the voices that shouted " a go ! " 
He sprang like an arrow shot straight from the 

bow. 
I tighten the reins on Prince Charlie's great son — 
He is off like a rocket, the race is begun. 
Half-way down the furlong, their heads are to- 
gether, 
Scarce room 'twixt their noses to wedge in a feather; 
Past grand stand, and judges, in neck-to-neck strife, 
Ah, Salvator, boy ! 'tis the race of your life. 
I press my knees closer, I coax him, I urge, 
I feel him go out with a leap and a surge ; 
I see him creep on, inch by inch, stride by stride, 
While backward, still backward, falls Tenny beside. 
We are nearing the turn, the first quarter is past — 
'Twixt leader and chaser the daylight is cast. 
The distance elongates, still Tenny sweeps on. 
As graceful and free-limbed and swift as a fawn; 
His awkwardness vanished, his muscles all 

strained — 
A noble opponent, well born and well trained. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. ii 

I glanced o'er my shoulder, ha ! Tenny, the cost 
Of that one second's flagging, will be — the race lost. 
One second's weak yielding of courage and 

strength, 
And the daylight between us has doubled its length. 

The first mile is covered, the race is mine — no ! 
For the blue blood of Tenny responds to a blow. 
He shoots through the air like a ball from a gun, 
And the two lengths between us are shortened to 

one. 
My heart is contracted, my throat feels a lump. 
For Tenny's long neck is at Salvator's rump ; 
And now with new courage, grown bolder and 

bolder, 
I see him once more running shoulder to shoulder. 
With knees, hands and body I press my grand steed ; 
I urge him, I coax him, I pray him to heed! 
Oh, Salvator! Salvator! list to my calls. 
For the blow of my whip will hurt both if it 

falls. 
There's a roar from the crowd like the ocean in 

storm, 
As close to my saddle leaps Tenny's great form, 
One more mighty plunge, and with knee, limb and 

hand, 
I lift, my horse first by a nose past the stand. 
We are under the string now — the great race is 

done. 
And Salvator, Salvator, Salvator won! 



12 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

Cheer, hoar-headed patriarchs ; cheer loud, I say : 
'Tis the race of a century witnessed to-day! 
Though ye live twice the space that^s allotted to 

men 
Ye never will see such a grand race again. 
Let the shouts of the populace roar like the surf 
For Salvator, Salvator, king of the turf! 
He has broken the record of thirteen long years; 
He has won the first place in a vast line of peers. 
'Twas a neck-to-neck contest, a grand, honest race, 
And even his enemies grant him his place. 
Down into the dust let old records be hurled, 
And hang out 2.05 in the gaze of the world. 



i'f 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS, 




THE GOSSIPS. 

i[ ROSE in my garden, the sweetest and 
fairest, 
Was hanging her head through the long 
golden hours ; 
And early one morning I saw her tears falling, 
And heard a low gossiping talk in the 
bowers. 
The yellow Nasturtium, a spinster all faded, 

Was telling a Lily what ailed the poor Rose : 
"That wild roving Bee who was hanging about her. 
Has jilted her squarely, as everyone knows. 

" I knew when he came, with his singing and sigh- 
ing, 
His airs and his speeches so fine and so sweet, 
Just how it would end ; but no one would believe me, 

For all were quite ready to fall at his feet." 
" Indeed, you are wrong,"said the Lily-belle proudly; 

" I cared nothing for him, he called on me once, 
And would have come often, no doubt, if Ld asked 
him. 
But, though he was handsome, I thought him a 
dunce." 



14 JIOW S ALVA TOR WOJV, 

" Now, now, that's not true," cried the tall Oleander. 
" He has traveled and seen every flower that 
grows; 
And one who has supped in the garden of princes. 
We all might have known would not wed with 
the Rose." 
" But wasn't she proud when he showed her 
attention ? 
And she let him caress her," said sly Mignonette; 
"And I used to see it and blush for her folly. 
The silly thing thinks he will come to her yet." 

" I thought he was splendid," said pretty pert 
Larkspur, 
"So dark, and so grand with that gay cloak of 
gold; 
But he tried once to kiss me, the impudent fellow ! 

And I got offended ; I thought him too bold." 
"vOh, fie ! " laughed the Almond, " that does for a 
story. 
Though I hang down my head, yet I see all that 
goes; 
And I saw you reach out trying hard to detain him. 
But he just tapped your cheek and flew by to the 
Rose. 

" He cared nothing for her, he only was flirting 
To while away time, as I very well knew ; 

So I turned a cold shoulder on all his advances, 
Because I was certain his heart was untrue." 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 15 

'* The Rose is served right for her folly in trusting 

An oily - tongued stranger," quoth proud 

Columbine. 

'* I knew what he was, and thought once I would 

warn her, 

But of course the affair was no business of mine." 



"Oh, well," cried the Peony, shrugging her 
shoulders, 
*^I saw all along that the Bee was a flirt; 
But the Rose has been always so praised and so 
petted, 
I thought a good lesson would do her no hurt." 
Just then came the sound of a love-song sung 
sweetly, 
I saw my proud Rose lifting up her bowed head; 
And the talk of the gossips was hushed in a 
moment, 
And the flowers all listened to hear what was said. W 

And the dark, handsome Bee, with his cloak o'er his 
shoulder, 
Came swift through the sunlight and kissed the 
sad Rose, 
And whispered : *' My darling, I've roved the world 
over, 
And you are the loveliest flower that grows." 



i6 HOW SALVATOR WON, 




PLATONIC. 

KNEW it the first of the summer, 
I knew it the same at the end, 
That you and your love were plighted 
But couldn't you be my friend ? 
Couldn't we sit in the twilight, 

Couldn't we walk on the shore 
With only a pleasant friendship 
To bind us, and nothing more ? 

There was not a word of folly 

Spoken between us two, 
Though we lingered oft in the garden 

Till the roses were wet with dew. 
We touched on a thousand subjects — 

The moon and the worlds above, — 
And our talk was tinctured with science. 

And everything else, save love. 

A wholly Platonic friendship 

You said I had proven to you 
Could bind a man and a woman 

The whole long season through, 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 17 

With never a thought of flirting, 
Though both were in their youth. 

What would you have said, my lady, 
If you had known the truth ! 



What would you have done, I wonder, 

Had I gone on my knees to you 
And told you my passionate story, 

There in the dusk and the dew. 
My burning, burdensome story, 

Hidden and hushed so long — 
My story of hopeless loving — 

Say, would you have thought it wrong? 



But I fought with my heart and conquered, 

I hid my wound from sight ; 
You were going away in the morning, 

And I said a calm good-night. 
But now when I sit in the twilight, 

Or when I walk by the sea 
That friendship, quite Platonic, , 

Comes surging over me. 
And a passionate longing fills me 

For the roses, the dusk, the dew ; 
For the beautiful summer vanished. 

For the moonlight walks— and yoit. 



^^^Sj^S^-^^-g 



1 8 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 




SOLITUDE. 

g. AUGH, and the world laughs with you ; 
Weep, and you weep alone ; 
For the sad old earth 
Must borrow its mirth, 
It has trouble enough of its own. 

Sing, and the hills will answer ; 
Sigh, it is lost on the air; 

The echoes bound 

To a joyful sound, 
But shrink from voicing care. 

Rejoice, and men will seek you ; 
Grieve, and they turn and go ; 

They want full measure 

Of all your pleasure, 
But they do not want your woe. 

Be glad, and your friends are many ; 
Be sad, and you lose them all ; 

There are none to decline 

Your nectared wine. 
But alone you must drink life's gall. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 

Feast, and your halls are crowded ; 
Fast, and the world goes by ; 

Succeed and give. 

And it helps you live. 
But it cannot help you die. 

There is roomin the halls of pleasure 
For a long and lordly train ; 

But one by one 

We must all file on 
Through the narrow aisles of pain. 



now S ALVA TOR WON, 




GRANDPA'S CHRISTMAS. 

^N his great cushioned chair by the fender 

> An old man sits dreaming to-night, 
•v-.^^I^is withered hands, licked by the tender. 

Warm rays of the red anthracite. 
Are folded before him, all listless ; 

His dim eyes are fixed on the blaze, 
While over him sweeps the resistless 

Flood-tide of old days. 

He hears not the mirth in the hallway. 

He hears not the sounds of good cheer, 
That through the old homestead ring alway 

In the glad Christmas-time of the year. 
He heeds not the chime of sweet voices 

As the last gifts are hung on the tree. 
In a long-vanished day he rejoices — 

In his lost Used to be. 

He has gone back across dead Decembers 
To his childhood's fair land of delight ; 

And his mother's sweet smile he remembers, 
As he hangs up his stocking at night. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS, 

He remembers the dream-haunted slumber 
All broken and restless because 

Of .the visions that came without number 
Of dear Santa Claus. 

Again, in his manhood's beginning, 

He sees himself thrown on the world, 
And into the vortex of sinning 

By Pleasure's strong arms he is hurled. 
He hears the sweet Christmas bells ringing, 

" Repent ye, repent ye, and pray ; " 
But he joins with his comrades in singing 

A bacchanal lay. 

Again he stands under the holly 

With a blushing face lifted to his ; 
For love has been stronger than folly, 

And has turned him from vice unto bliss ; 
And the whole world is lit with new glory 

As the sweet vows are uttered again, 
While the Christmas bells tell the old story 

Of peace unto men. 

Again, with his little brood 'round him, 

He sits by the fair mother-wife ; 
He knows that the angels have crowned him 

With the truest, best riches of life ; 
And the hearts of the children, untroubled, 

Are tilled with the gay Christmas-tide ; 
And the gifts for sweet Maudie are doubled, 

'Tis her birthday, beside. 



22 IfOJr S ALVA TOR WON, 

Again, — ah, dear Jesus, have pity — 

He finds in the chill, waning day, 
That one has come home from the city — 

Frail Maudie, whom love led astray. 
She lies with her babe on her bosom — 

Half-hid by the snow's fleecy spread ; 
A bud and a poor trampled blossom — 

And both are quite dead. 

So fair and so fragile ! just twenty — 

How mocking the bells sound to-night! 
She starved in this great land of plenty. 

When she tried to grope back to the light. 
Christ, are Thy disciples inhuman, 

Or only for men hast Thou died ? 
No mercy is shown to a woman 

Who once steps aside. 

Again he leans over the shrouded 

Still form of the mother and wife ; 
Very lonely the way seems, and clouded. 

As he looks down the vista of life. 
With the sweet Christmas chimes there is blended 

The knell for a life that is done. 
And he knows that his joys are all ended 

And his waiting begun. 

So long have the years been, so lonely. 

As he counts them by Christmases gone. 

"I am homesick," he murmurs; "if only 
The Angel would lead the way on. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 23 

I am cold, in this chill winter weather ; 

Why, Maudie, dear, where have you been ? 
And you, too, sweet wife — and together — 

O Christ, let me in." 

The children ran in from the hallway, 

"Were you calling us, grandpa?" they said. 
Then shrank, with that fear that comes alway 

When young eyes look their first on the dead. 
The freedom so longed for is given. 

The children speak low and draw near : 
"Dear grandpa keeps Christmas in Heaven 

With grandma, this year." 



%-%r-^ 



24 MOV/ S ALVA TOR WON, 



AFTER THE ENGAGEMENT. 

^ELL, Mabel, 'tis over and ended — 
The ball I wrote was to be ; 
t^^pv^And oh ! it was perfectly splendid — • 




P If you could have been here to see. 
^^ I've a thousand things to write you 

That I know you are wanting to hear, 
And one, that is sure to delight you — 
I am wearing Joe's diamond, my dear ! 

Yes, mamma is quite ecstatic 

That I am engaged to Joe ; 
She thinks 1 am rather erratic. 

And feared that I might say " no." 
But, Mabel, I'm twenty-seven 

(Though nobody dreams it, dear), 
And a fortune like Joe's isn't given 
To lay at one's feet each year. 

You know my old fancy for Harry — 
Or, at least, I am certain you guessed 

That it took all my sense not to marry 
And go with that fellow out west. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 

But that was my very first season — 
And Harry was poor as could be, 

And mamma's good practical reason 
Took all the romance out of me. 

She whisked me off over the ocean. 

And had me presented at court, 
And got me all out of the notion 

That ranch life out west was my forte. 
Of course I have never repented — 

I'm not such a goose of a thing ; 
But after I had consented 

To Joe — and he gave me the ring — 

I felt such a queer sensation. 

I seemed to go into a trance, 
Away from the music's pulsation. 

Away from the lights and the dance. 
And the wind o'er the wild prairie 

Seemed blowing strong and free, 
And it seemed not Joe, but Harry 

Who was standing there close to me. 

And the funniest feverish feeling 

V/ent up from my feet to my head, 
With little chills after it stealing — 

And my hands got as numb as the dead. 
A moment, and then it was over : 

The diamond blazed up in my eyes. 
And I saw in the face of my lover 

A questioning, strange surprise. 



26 BOW SALVATOR WON. 



Maybe 'twas the scent of the flowers, 

That heavv with fragrance bloomed near, 
But I didn't feel natural for hours ; 

It was odd now, wasn't it, dear? 
Write soon to your fortunate Clara 

Who has carried the prize away, 
And say you'll come on when I marry ; 

I think it will happen in May. 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 27 




THE WATCHER. 

% THINK I hear the sound of horses' feet 
Beating upon the graveled avenue. 
Go to the window that looks on the 
street, 
He would not let me die alone, I knew." 
Back to the couch the patient watcher passed, 
And said : " It is the wailing of the blast." 

She turned upon her couch and, seeming, slept, 
The long, dark lashes shadowing her cheek ; 

And on and on the weary moments crept. 

When suddenly the watcher heard her speak : 

" I think I hear the sound of horses' hoofs — " 

And answered, " 'Tis the rain upon the roofs." 

Unbroken silence, quiet, deep, profound. 

The restless sleeper turns : " How dark, how 
late ! 
What is it that I hear — a trampling sound ? 

I think there is a horseman at the gate." 
The watcher turns away her eyes tear-blind : 
''It is the shutter beating in the wind." 



2 8 now S ALVA TOR WON, 

The dread hours passed ; the patient clock ticked 
on ; 
The weary watcher moved not from her place. 
The gray dim shadows of the early dawn 

Caught sudden glory from the sleeper's face, 
'' He comes ! my love ! I knew he would !" she 

cried ; 
And smiling sweetly in her slumbers, died. 



M 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS, 29 



FALSE. 

ipALSE ! Good God, I am dreaming ! 
Y^ No, no, it never can be — 

S^^^v^ You who are so true in seeming, 

You, false to your vows and me ? 
My wife and my fair boy's mother 

The star of my life — my queen — 
To yield herself to another 
Like some light Magdalene ! 

Proofs ! what are proofs — I defy them ! 

They never can shake my trust ; 
If you look in my face and deny them 

I will trample them into the dust. 
For whenever I read of the glory 

Of the realms of Paradise, 
I sought for the truth of the story 

And found it in your sweet eyes. 

Why, you are the shy young creature 

I wooed in her maiden grace ; 
There was purity in each feature. 

And my heaven I found in your face. 
And, "not only married but mated," 

I would say in my pride and joy ; 
And our hopes were all consummated 

When the angels gave us our boy. 



30 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

Now you could not blot that beginning 

So beautiful, pure and true, 
With a record of wicked sinning 

As a common woman might do. 
Look up in your old frank fashion, 

With your smile so free from art ; 
And say that no guilty passion 

Has ever crept into your heart. 

How pallid you are, and 5^ou tremble ! 

You are hiding your face from view ! 
" Tho' a sinner, you cannot dissemble " — 

My God ! then the tale is true ? 
True and the sun above us 

Shines on in the summer skies? 
And men say the angels love us, 

And that God is good and wise. 

Yet he lets a wanton thing like you 

Ruin my home and my name ! 
Get out of my sight ere I strike you 

Dead in your shameless shame ! 
No, no, I was wild, I was brutal ; 

I would not take your life. 
For the efforts of death would be futile 

To wipe out the sin of a wife. 
Wife — why, that word has seemed sainted, 

I uttered it. like a prayer. 
And now to think it is tainted — 

Christ ! how much we can bear ! 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 31 

"Slay you !" my boy's stained mother — 

Nay, that would not punish, or save ; 
A soul that has outraged another 

Finds no sudden peace in the grave. 
I will leave you here to reme^nber 

The Eden that was your own. 
While on toward my life's December 

I walk in the dark alone. 



•II .-< 



32 



HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 



THE PHANTOM BALL. 




OU remember the hall on the corner? 
To-night as I walked down street 
I heard the sound of music, 
And the rhythmic beat and beat, 
In time to the pulsing measure 
Of lightly tripping feet. 



And I turned and entered the doorway 
It was years since I had been there — 

Years, and life seemed altered : 
Pleasure had changed to care. 

But again I was hearing the music 
And watchinof the dancers fair. 



And then, as I stood and listened. 

The music lost its glee ; 
And instead of the merry waltzers 

There were ghosts of the Used-to-be- 
G hosts of the pleasure-seekers 

Who once had danced with me. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 

Oh, 'twas a ghastly picture ! 

Oh, 'twas a gruesome crowd ! 
Each bearing a skull on his shoulder, 

Each trailing a long white shroud, 
As they whirled in the dance together. 

And the music shrieked aloud. 

As they danced, their dry bones rattled 

Like shutters in a blast ; 
And they stared from eyeless sockets 

On me as they circled past ; 
And the music that kept them whirling 

Was a funeral dirge played fast. 

Some of them wore their face-cloths. 

Others were rotted away. 
Some had mould on their garments. 

And some seemed dead but a day. 
Corpses all, but I knew them 

As friends, once blithe and gay. 

Beauty and strength and manhood — 
And this was the end of it all : 

Nothing but phantoms whirling 
In a ghastly skeleton ball. 

But the music ceased — and they vanished, 
And I came away from the hall. 



2>Z 



34 ^OW S ALVA TOR WON, 




THE KINGDOM OF LOVE. 

N the dawn of the day when the sea and 
the earth 
Reflected the sunrise above, 
I set forth with a heart full of courage and 
mirth 
To seek for the Kingdom of Love. 
I asked of a Poet I met on the way 

Which cross-road would lead me aright. 
And he said : " Follow me, and ere long you shall 
see 
Its glittering turrets of light." 

And soon in the distance a city shone fair. 

" Look yonder," he said ; ^' how it gleams ! " 
But alas ! for the hopes that were doomed to de- 
spair. 

It was only the " Kingdom of Dreams." 
Then the next man I asked was a gay Cavalier, 

And he said : " Follow me, follow me ; " 
And with laughter and song we went speeding 
along 

Bv the shores of Life's beautiful sea. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 35 

Then we came to a valley more tropical far 

Than the wonderful vale of Cashmere, 
And I saw from a bower a face like a flower 

Smile out on the gay Cavalier. 
And he said : "We have come to humanity's goal: 

Here love and delight are intense." 
But alas and alas ! for the hopes of my soul — 

It was only the " Kingdom of Sense." 

As I journeyed more slowly I met on the road 

A coach with retainers behind. 
And they said : " Follow me, for our Lady's abode 

Belongs in that realm, you will find." 
'Twas a grand dame of fashion, a newly-made bride, 

I followed, encouraged and bold ; 
But my hopes died away like the last gleams of 
day, 

For we came to the " Kingdom of Gold." 

At the door of a cottage I asked a fair maid. 

" I have heard of that realm," she replied ; 
" But my feet never roam from the ' Kingdom of 
Home,' 

So I know not the way," and she sighed. 
I looked on the cottage ; how restful it seemed ! 

And the maid was as fair as a dove. 
Great light glorified my soul as I cried : 

"Why home is the ^ Kingdom of Love ! ' " 



36 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 




C 



UNDER THE SHEET. 

fHAT a terrible night! Does the Night, 
I wonder — 
The Night, with her black veil down to 
^p her feet 

W^ Like an ordained nun, know what lies 

under 

*" That awful, motionless, snow-white sheet ? 

The winds seem crazed, and, wildly howling, 

Over the sad earth blindly go. 
Do they and the dark clouds over them scowling, 
Do they dream or know ? 

Why, here in the room, not a week or over — 

Tho' it must be a week, not more than one — 
(I cannot reckon of late or discover 

When one day is ended or one begun), 
But here in this room we were laughing lightly, 

And glad was the measure our two hearts beat; 
And the royal face that was smiling so brightly 

Lies under that sheet. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 37 

I know not why — it is strange and fearful, 

But I am afraid of her, lying there ; 
She who was always so gay and cheerful, 

Lying so still with that stony stare : 
She who was so like some grand sultana, 

Fond of color and glow and heat, 
To lie there clothed in that awful manner 

In a stark white sheet. 

She who was made out of summer blisses. 

Tropical, beautiful, gracious, fair, 
To lie and stare at my fondest kisses — 

God ! no wonder it whitens my hair. 
Shriek, oh, wind ! for the world is lonely; 

Trail cloud-veil to the nun Night's feet J 
For all that I prized in life is only 

A shape and a sheet. 



38 HO IV SALVATOH WON, 



V£i 




HIS YOUTH. 

'^. YING ? I am not dying. Are you mad ? 
^ You think I need to ask for heavenly 
^^ grace ? 
/ think you are a fiend, who would be glad 
To see me struggle in death's cold em- 
brace. 



"But, man, you lie ! for I am strong — in truth 
Stronger than I have been in years ; and soon 

I shall feel young again as in my youth, 

My glorious youth — life's one great priceless 
boon. 

" O youth, youth, youth ! O God, that golden time. 
When proud and glad I laughed the hours away. 

Why, there's no sacrifice (perhaps no crime) 
I'd pause at, could it make me young to-day. 

"But I'm not old/ I grew — just ill, somehow ; 

Grew stiff of limb, and weak, and dim of sight. 
It was but sickness. I am better now. 

Oh, vastly better, ever since last night. 

" And I could weep warm floods of happy tears 
To think my strength is coming back at last, 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 39 

For I have dreamed of such an hour for years, 
As I lay thinking of my glorious past. 

*' You shake your head ? Why, man, if you were 
sane 

I'd strike you to my feet, I would, in truth. 
How dare you tell me that my hopes are vain ? 

How dare you say I have outlived my youth ? 

" * In heaven I may regain it ? ' Oh, be still ! 

I want no heaven but what my glad youth gave. 
Its long, bright hours, its rapture and its thrill — 

youth, youth, youth ! it is ray youth I crave. 

"There is no heaven ! There's nothing but a deep 
And yawning grave from which I shrink in fear. 

I am not sure of even rest or sleep ; 

Perhaps we lie and think^ as I have here. 

" Think, think, think, think, as we lie there and rot, 

And hear the young above us laugh in glee. 
How dare you say Tm dying ! / am not. 

1 would curse God if such a thing could be. 

" Why, see me stand ! why, hear this strong, full 
breath — 
Dare you repeat that silly, base untruth 1 " 
A cry — a fall — the silence known as death 

Hushed his wild words. Well, has he found his 
youth ? . 



40 MOW S ALVA TOR WON, 




WANTED— A LITTLE GIRL. 

HERE have they gone to — the little girls 
With natural manners and natural curls ; 
Who love their dollies and like their toys, 
And talk of something besides the boys? 

Little old women in plenty I find, 
Mature in manners and old of mind ; 
Little old flirts who talk of their " beaux," 
And vie with each other in stylish clothes. 

Little old belles who, at nine and ten, 
Are sick of pleasure and tired of men ; 
Weary of travel, of balls, of fun, 
And find no new thing under the sun. 

Once, in the beautiful long ago, 
Some dear little children I used to know; 
Girls who were merry as lambs at play. 
And laughed and rollicked the livelong day. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 41 

They thought not at all of the "style" of their 

clothes, 
They never imagined that boys were "beaux" — 
" Other girls' brothers " and " mates " were they ; 
Splendid fellows to help them play. 

Where have they gone to ? If you see 

One of them anywhere send her to me. 

I would give a medal of purest gold 

To one of those dear little girls of old, 

With an innocent heart and an open smile. 

Who knows not the meaning of " flirt " or " style." 




42 now S ALVA TOR WON, 



TWO SINNERS. 

HERE was a man, it was said one time, 
Who went astray in his youthful prime. 
Can the brain keep cool and the heart 
keep quiet 
When the blood is a river that's running 
riot? 

And boys will be boys, the old folks say. 
And a man is the better who^s had his day. 

The sinner reformed ; and the preacher told 
Of the prodigal son who came back to the fold. 
And Christian people threw open the door. 
With a warmer welcome than ever before. 
Wealth and honor were his to command, 
And a spotless woman gave him her hand. 

And the world strewed their pathway with blossoms 

abloom, 
Crying, " God bless layde, and God bless groom !" 

There was a maiden who went astray, 
In the golden dawn of her life's young day. 
She had more passion and heart than head. 
And she followed blindly where fond Love led. 
And Love unchecked is a dangerous guide 
To wander at will by a fair girl's side. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 43 

The woman repented and turned from sin, 

But no door opened to let her in. 

The preacher prayed that she might be forgiven, 

But told her to look for mercy — in heaven 

For this is the law of the earth, we know : 

That the woman is stoned, while the man may go. 

A brave man wedded her after all. 

But the world said, frowning, "We shall not call." 




r 



44 IfO^r S ALVA TOR V/ON, 




MEG'S CURSE. 

HE sun rode high in a cloudless sky 
Of a perfect summer morn. 
She stood and gazed out into the street, 
And wondered why she was born. 
On the topmost branch of a maple-tree 
That close by the window grew, 
A robin called to his mate enthralled: 
" I love but you, but you, but you." 

A soft look came in her hardened face — 

She had not wept for years; 
But the robin's trill, as some sounds will, 

Jarred open the door of tears. 
She thought of the old home far away; 

She heard the whir-r-r of the mill; 
She heard the turtle's wild, sweet call. 

And the wail of the whip-poor-will, whip-poor- 
will, whip-poor-will. 

She saw again that dusty road 

Whence he came riding down; 
She smelled once more the flower she wore 

In the breast of her simple gown. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 45 

Out on the new-mown meadow she heard 

Two blue-jays quarrel and fret, 
And the warning cry of a Phoebe bird: 

''More wet, more wet, more wet." 



With a blithe " hello " to the mea below 

Who were spreading the new-mown hay, 
The rider drew rein at her window-pane — 

How it all came bacj;^ to-day ! 
How young she was„4nd how fair she was; 

What innocence c'rowned her brow ! 
The future seemed fair, for Love was there — 

And now — and now — and now. 

In a dingy glass on the wall near by 

She gazed on her faded face. 
"Well, Meg, I declare, what a beauty you are ! " 

She sneered, " What an angel of grace ! 
Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ! 

What a thing of beauty and grace ! " 
She reached out her arms with a moaning sob: 

" Oh, if I could go back ! " 
Then, swift and strange, came a sudden change; 

Her brow grew hard and black. 

'' A curse on the day and a curse on that man, 

And on all who are his," she cried. 
" May he starve and be cold, may he live to be old 

When all who loved him have died." 



46 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

Her wild voice frightened the robin away 
From the branch by the window-sill ; 

And little he knew as away he flew, 
Of the memories stirred by his trill. 

He called to his mate on the grass below, 

" Follow me," as he soared on high; 
And as mates have done since the world begun 

She followed, and asked not why. 
The dingy room seemed curtained with gloom; 

Meg shivered with nameless dread. 
The ghost of her youth and her murdered truth 

Seemed risen up from the dead. 

She hurried out into the noisy street. 

For the silence made her afraid; 
To flee from thought was all she sought. 

She cared not whither she strayed. 
Still on she pressed in her wild unrest 

Up avenues skirting the park. 
Where fashion's throng moved gayly along 

In Vanity Fair — when hark ! 

A clatter of hoofs down the stony street. 

The snort of a frightened horse 
That was running wild, and a laughing child 

At play in its very course. 
With one swift glance Meg saw it all. 

''His child— my God ! his child ! " 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 47 

She cried aloud, as she rushed through the crowd 
Like one grown suddenly wild. 

There, almost under the iron feet. 

Hemmed in by a passing cart. 
Stood the baby boy — the pride and joy 

Of the man who had broken her heart. 
Past swooning women and shouting men 

She fled like a flash of light ; 
With her slender arm she gathered from harm 

The form of the laughing sprite. 

The death-shod feet of the mad horse beat 

Her down on the pavings gray ; 
But the baby laughed out with a merry shout. 

And thought it splendid play. 
He pulled her gown and called to her : '* Say, 

Dit up and do dat some more ; 
Das jus' ze way my papa play 

Wiz me on ze nursery floor." 

When the frightened father reached the scene, 

His boy looked up and smiled 
From the stiffening fold of the arm, death-cold, 

Of Meg, who had died for his child. 
Oh ! idle words are a woman's curse 

Who loves as woman can ; 
For put to the test, she will bare her breast 

And die for the sake of the man. 



48 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 




A FABLE. 

OME cawing Crows, a hooting Owl, 
A Hawk, a Canary, an old Marsh-Fowl, 
One day all met together 
To hold a caucus and settle the fate 
Of a certain bird (without a mate), 
A bird of another feather. 



" My friends," said the Owl, with a look most wise, 
" The Eagle is soaring too near the skies. 

In a way that is quite improper ; 
Yet the world is praising her, so I'm told, 
And I think her actions have grown so bold 

That some of us ought to stop her." 

" I have heard it said," quoth Hawk with a sigh, 
'^That young lambs died at the glance of her eye. 

And I wholly scorn and despise her. 
This and more, I am told, they say ; 
And I think that the only proper way 

Is never to recognize her." 

**I am quite convinced," said Crow with a caw, 
'* That the Eagle minds no moral law ; 
She's a most unruly creature," 



AND OTHER. RECITATIONS, 49 

"She's an ugly thing," piped Canary Bird ; 
" Some call her handsome ; it's so absurd — 
She hasn^t a decent feature ! " 

Then the old Marsh Hen went hopping about ; 
She said she was sure — she hadn't a doubt — 

Of the truth of each bird's story ; 
And she thought it her duty to stop her flight, 
To pull her down from her lofty height. 

And take the gilt from her glory. 

But, lo ! from a peak on the mountain grand, 
That looks out over the smiling land. 

And over the mighty ocean. 
The Eagle is spreading her splendid wings — 
She rises, rises, and upward swings. 

With a slow, majestic motion. 

Up in the blue of God's own skies, 
With a cry of rapture, away she flies, 

Close to the Great Eternal. 
She sweeps the world with her piercing sight ; 
Her soul is filled with the Infinite 

And the joy of things supernal. 

Thus rise forever the chosen of God, 
The genius-crowned or the power-shod, 

Over the dust-world sailing ; 
And back like splinters blown by the winds. 
Must fall the missiles of silly minds. 

Useless and unavailing. 




50 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 



THE WAY OF IT. 

HIS is the way of it, wide world over, 
One is beloved, and one is the lover. 
One gives and the other receives. 
[i\^ One lavishes all in wild emotion. 

One offers a smile for a life's devotion. 
One hopes and the other believes. 
One lies awake in the night to weep. 
And the other drifts off in a sweet, sound sleep. 

One soul is aflame with a godlike passion. 
One plays with love in an idler's fashion. 

One speaks and the other hears. 
One sobs '' I love you," and wet eyes show it. 
And one laughs lightly, and says "I know it/' 

With smiles for the other's tears. 
One lives for the other and nothing beside, 
And the other remembers the world is wide. 

This is the way of it, sad earth over, 

The heart that breaks is the heart of the lover. 

And the other learns to forget. 
" For what is the use of endless sorrow ? 
Though the sun goes down, it will rise to-morrow 

And life is not over yet." 
Oh ! Iknow this truth, if I know no other. 
That passionate Love is Paints own mother. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 




THR SUICIDE. 

fAST was the wealth I carried in life's 
pack — 
Youth, health, ambition, hope and trust ; 

but Time 
And Fate, those robbers fit for any crime. 
Stole all, and left me but the empty sack. 
Before me lay a long and lonely track 
Of darkling hills and barren steeps to climb ; 
Behind me lay in shadows the sublime 
Lost lands of Love's delight. Alack ! Alack ! 

Unwearied, and with springing steps elate, 
I had conveyed my wealth along the road. 
The empty sack proved now a heavier load : 

I was borne down beneath its worthless weight. 

I stumbled on, and knocked at Death's dark gate. 
There was no answer. Stung by sorrow's goad, 
\ forced v(\j way into that grim abode. 

And laughed, and flung Life's empty sack to Fate. 



52 now S ALVA TOR WON, 

Unknown and uninvited I passed in 

To that strange land that hangs between two 
goals, 

Round which a dark and solemn river rolls — 
More dread its silence than the loud earth's din. 
And now, where was the peace I hoped to win ? 

Black-masted ships slid past me in great shoals, 

Their bloody decks thronged with mistaken 
souls. 
(God punishes mistakes sometimes like sin.) 

Not rest and not oblivion I found. 

My suffering self dwelt with me just the same ; 

But here no sleep was, and no sweet dreams 
came 
To give me respite. Tyrant Death, uncrowned 
By my own hand, still King of Terrors, frowned 

Upon my shuddering soul, that shrank in shame 

Before those eyes where sorrow blent with 
blame, 
And those accusing lips that made no sound. 

What gruesome shapes dawned on my startled 
sight ! 

What awful sighs broke on my listening ear ! 

The anguish of the earth, augmented here 
A thousand-fold, made one continuous night. 
The sack I flung away in impious spite 

Hung yet upon me, filled, I saw in fear. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 53 

With tears that rained from earth's adjacent 
sphere, 
And turned to stones in falling from that height. 

And close about me pressed a grieving throng, 
Each with his heavy sack, which bowed him so 
His face was hidden. One of these mourned : 
"Know 

Who enters here but finds the way more long 

To those fair realms where sounds the angels' song. 
There is no man-made exit out of woe ; 
Ye cannot dash the locked door down and go 

To claim thy rightful joy through paths of wrong." 

He passed into the shadows dim and gray, 
And left me to pursue my path alone. 
With terror greater than I yet had known. 

Hard on my soul the awful knowledge lay, 

Death had not ended life nor found God's way; 
But, with my same sad sorrows still my own, 
Where by-roads led to by-roads, thistle-sown, 

I had but wandered off and gone astray. 

With earth still near enough to hear its sighs, 
With heaven afar and hell but just below, 
Still on and on my lonely soul must go 

Until I earn the right to Paradise. 

We cannot force our way into God's skies. 
Nor rush into the rest we long to know; 
But patiently, with bleeding steps and slow, 

Toil on to where selfhood in Godhood dies. 



54 



BO IV SALVATOR WON, 



NOW I LAY ME.' 




\ HEN I pass from earth away, 

) Palsied though I be and gray, 

'^ May my spirit keep so young 
That my failing, faltering tongue 
Frames that prayer so dear to me, 
Taught me at my mother's knee : 

" Now I lay me down to sleep,'' 
(Passing to Eternal rest 
On the loving parent breast) 

" I pray the Lord my soul to keep ; " 
(From all danger safe and calm 
In the hollow of His palm ;) 

'"'' If I should die before I wake,'' 
(Drifting with a bated breath 
Out of slumber into death,) 

" I pray the Lord my soul to take.'' 
(From the body's claim set free 
Sheltered in the Great to be.) 
Simple prayer of trust and truth. 
Taught me in my early youth — 
Let my soul its beauty keep 
When I lay me down to sleep. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 55 




THE MESSENGER. 

HE rose up in the early dawn, 

And white and silently she moved 
^E^ About the house. Four men had gone 
To battle for the land they loved, 
And she, the mother and the wife, 
Waited for tidings from the strife. 
How still the house seemed ! and her tread 
Was like the footsteps of the dead. 

The long day passed ; the dark night came. 

She had not seen a human face. 
Some voice spoke suddenly her name. 

How loud it echoed in that place. 
Where, day on day, no sound was heard 
But her own footsteps. " Bring you word,' 
She cried to whom she could not see, 
" Word from the battle-plain to me ?" 

A soldier entered at the door, 

And stood within the dim firelight : 
*' I bring you tidings of the four," 

He said, "who left you for the fight." 



56 HOW S ALVA TOE WON, 

" God bless you, friend," she cried, " speak on ! 
For I can bear it. One is gone ?" 
" Ay, one is gone !" he said. " Which one ?" 
" Dear lady, he, your eldest son." 

A deathly pallor shot across 

Her withered face ; she did not weep. 
She said : *' It is a grievous loss, 

But God gives His beloved sleep. 
What of the living — of the three ? 
And when can they come back to me?" 
The soldier turned away his head : 
*^ Lady, your husband, too, is dead." 

She put her hand upon her brow ; 

A wild, sharp pain was in her eyes. 
" My husband ! Oh, God, help me now !" 

The soldier heard her shuddering sighs. 
The task was harder than he thought. 
"Your youngest son, dear madam, fought 
Close at his father's side ; both fell 
Dead, by the bursting of a shell.'' 

She moved her lips and seemed to moan. 

Her face had paled to ashen gray : 
" Then one is left me — one alone," 

She said, " of four who marched awa)^ 
Oh, overruling. All-wise God, 
How can I pass beneath Thy rod !" 
The soldier walked across the floor, 
Paused at the window, at the door, 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS, 57 

Wiped the cold dew-drops from his cheek 
And sought the mourner's side again. 

" Once more, dear lady, I must speak : 
Your last remaining son was slain 

Just at the closing of the fight, 

'Twas he who sent me here to-night." 

" God knows," the man said afterward, 

" The fight itself was not so hard/' 




JIOW S ALVA TOR WON. 



iLlogical. 



"^li^^?^ stood beside me while 1 gave an order 

for a bonnet. 



'^^ She shuddered when I said, " And put a 
bright bird's wing upon it." 

A member of the Audubon Society was 
she ; 

And cutting were her comments made on 
worldly folks like me. 

She spoke about the helpless birds we wickedly 

were harming ; 
She quoted the statistics, and they really were 

alarming ; 
She said God meant His little birds to sing in trees 

and skies ; 
And there was pathos in her voice, and tears were 

in her eyes. 

" Oh, surely, in this beauteous world you can find 

lovely things 
Enough to trim your hats," she said, "without 

the dear birds' wings." 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 59 

I sat beside her that same day, in her own house at 

dinner — 
Angelic being that she was to entertain a sinner ! 

Her well-appointed table groaned beneath the 

ample spread ; 
Course followed appetizing course, and hunger, 

sated, fled. 
But still my charming hostess urged : '' Do have a 

reed-bird^ dear ; 
They are so delicate and sweet at this time of the 

year." 





6o HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 



A SERVIAN LEGEND. 



I ONG, long ago, ere yet our race began, 
When earth was empty, waiting still for 
man. 
Before the breath of life to him was given 
The angels fell into a strife in heaven. 



At length one furious demon grasped the sun 
And sped away as fast as he could run, 
And with a ringing laugh of fiendish mirth, 
He leaped the battlements and fell to earth. 

Dark was it then in heaven, but light below ; 
For there the demon wandered to and fro. 
Tilting aloft upon a slender pole 
The orb of day — the pilfering old soul. 

The angels wept and wailed ; but through the 

dark 
The Great Creator's voice cried sternly : "Hark ! 
Who will restore to me the orb of Light, 
Him will I honor in all heaven's sight." 

Then over the battlements there dropped another. 

(A shrewder angel well there could not be.) 
Quoth he : " Behold my love for thee, my brother. 

For I have left all heaven to stay with thee. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 6i 

" Thy loneliness and wanderings I will share, 

Thy heavy burden I will help thee bear." 

"Well said," the demon answered, "and well 

done, 
But I'll not tax you with this heavy sun. 

" Your company will cheer me, it is true, 
And I could never think of burdening you." 
Idly they wandered onward, side by side, 
Till, by and by, they neared a silvery tide. 

" Let's bathe," the angel suddenly suggested. 

"Agreed," the demon answered. "Til go last. 
Because I needs must leave quite unmolested 

This tiresome sun, which I will now make fast.^' 

He set the pole well in the sandy turf, 

And called a jackdaw near to watch the place. 

Meanwhile the angel paddled in the surf. 
And playfully dared his brother to a race. 

They swam around together for awhile, 
The demon always keeping near his prize, 

Till presently the angel, with a smile. 
Proposed a healthful diving exercise. 

The demon hesitated. " But," thought he, 
" The jackdaw will inform me with a cry 

If this good brother tries deceiving me ; 
I will not be outdone by him — not I \ " 



62 now S ALVA TOR WO AT, 

Down, down they went. The angel in a trice 
Rose up again, and swift to shore he sped. 

The jackdaw shrieked, but lo ! a mile of ice 
The demon found had frozen o^er his head. 

He swore an oath, and gathered all his force, 
And broke the ice, to see the sun, of course, 
Held firmly in the radiant angel's hand. 
Who sailed away toward the heavenly land. 

He gave pursuit. Wrath lent speed to his cha&e ; 
All heaven leaned down to watch the exciting 

race. 
On^ on they came, and still the Evil One 
Gained on the angel burdened with the sun. 

With bated breath and faces white as ghosts. 
Over the walls leaned heaven^'s affrighted hosts. 
Up, up, still up, the angel almost spent. 
Threw one foot forward o'er the battlement. 

The demon seized the other with a shout; 

So fierce his clutch he pulled the bottom out, 

As the good angel, fainting, laid the sun 

Down by the throne of God, who cried: "Well 

done ! 
Thy great misfortune shall be made divine: 
Man will I create with a foot like thine ! " 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 



63 



PEEK-A-BOO. 




HE cunningest thing that a baby can do 
_^__ Is the very first time it plays peek-a-boo; 

(^urJ^ When it hides its pink little face in its 

hands, 
And crows, and shows that it understands 



What nurse, and mamma and papa, too. 
Mean when they hide and cry, '' Peek-a-boo, peek- 
a-boo." 

Oh, what a wonderful thing it is, 

When they find that baby can play like this ; 

And everyone listens, and thinks it true 
That baby^s gurgle means " Peek-a-boo, peek-a- 
boo "; 



And over and over the changes are rung 

On the marvelous infant who talks so young. 

I wonder if any one ever knew 

A baby that never played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo ? 

'Tis old as the hills are. I believe 
Cain was taught it by Mother Eve ; 



64 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

For Cain was an innocent baby, too, 

And I am sure he played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo. 

And the whole world full of the children of men, 
Have all of them played that game since then. 

Kings and princes and beggars, too. 
Everyone has played peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo. 

Thief and robber and ruffian bold. 
The crazy tramp and the drunkard old, 

All have been babies who laughed and knew 
How to hide, and play peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo. 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 65 



THE FALLING OF THRONES. 

BOVE the din of commerce, above the 
clamor and rattle 
Of labor disputing with riches, of Anar- 
chists' threats and groans, 
Above the hurry and hustle and roar of that 
1 bloodless battle, 

Where men are fighting for riches, I hear the fall- 
ing of thrones. 

I see no savage host, I hear no martial drumming, 
But down in the dust at our feet lie the useless 
crowns of kings ; 
And the mighty spirit of Progress is steadily com- 
ing, coming, 
And the flag of one republic abroad to the world 
he flings. 

The Universal Republic, where worth not birth is 
royal ; 
Where the lowliest born may climb on a self- 
made ladder to fame ; 
Where the highest and proudest born, if he be not 
true and loyal, 
Shall find no masking title to cover and gild his 
shame. 



66 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

Not with the bellow of guns and not with sabres 
whetting, 
But with growing minds of men is waged this 
swordless fray ; 
While over the dim horizon the sun of royalty, 
setting. 
Lights, with a dying splendor, the humblest 
toiler's way. 



3~ 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 67 



[i HER LAST LETTER. 

[^ITTING alone by the window, 

Watching the moonlit street, Q 
^^ Bending my head to listen 

To the well-known sound of your feet, 
I have been wondering, darling, 

How I can bear the pain. 
When I watch, with sighs and tear-wet eyes, 
And wait for your coming in vain. 

For I know that a day approaches 

When your heart will tire of me ; 
When by door and gate I may watch and wait 

For a form I shall not see. 
When the love that is now my heaven, 

The kisses that make my life. 
You will bestow on another, 

And that other will be — your wife. 

You will grow weary of sinning 

(Though you do not call it so). 
You will long for a love that is purer 

Than the love that we two know. 
God knows I have loved you dearly. 

With a passion strong as true ; 
But you v/ill grow tired and leave me. 

Though I gave up all for you. 



68 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

I was as pure as the morning 

When I first looked on your face ; 
I knew I never could reach you 

In your high, exalted place. 
But I looked and loved and worshiped 

As a flower might worship a star, 
And your eyes shone down upon me. 

And you seemed so far — so far. 

And then ? Well, then, you loved me, 

Loved me with all your heart ; 
But we could not stand at the altar. 

We were so far apart. 
If a star should wed with a flower 

The star must drop from the sky. 
Or the flower in trying to reach it 

Would droop on its stalk and die. 
<"' 

But you said that you loved me, darling, 

And swore by the heavens above 
That the Lord and all of His angels 

Would sanction and bless our love. 
And I ? I was weak, not wicked. 

My love was as pure as true. 
And sin itself seemed a virtue 

If only shared by you. 

We have been happy together, 
Though under the cloud of sin. 

But I know that the day approaches 
When my chastening must begin. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 6g 

You have been faithful and tender, 

But you will not always be, 
And I think I had better leave you 

While your thoughts are kind of me. 

I know my beauty is fading — 

Sin furrows the fairest brow — 
And I know that your heart will weary 

Of the face you smile on now. 
You will take a bride to your bosom 

After you turn from me ; 
You will sit with your wife in' the moonlight, 

And hold her babe on your knee. 

Oh, God ! I never could bear it ; 

It would madden my brain, I know ; 
And so while you love me dearly 

I think I had better go. 
It is sweeter to feel, my darling — 

To know as I fall asleep— 
That some one will mourn me and miss me. 

That some one is left to weep, 

Than to die as I should in the future, 

To drop in the street some day, 
Unknown, unwept and forgotten 

After you cast me away. 
Perhaps the blood of the Saviour 

Can wash my garments clean ; 
Perchance I may drink of the waters 

That flow through pastures green. 



70 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

Perchance we may meet in heaven, 

And walk in the streets above, 
With nothing to grieve us or part us 

Since our sinning was all through love. 
God says, '' Love one another," 

And down to the depths of hell 
Will he send the soul of a womten Q^' 

Because she loved — and fell ? 



And so in the moonlight he found her, 

Or found her beautiful clay. 
Lifeless and pallid as marble. 

For the spirit had flown away. 
The farewell words she had written 

She held to her cold, white breast. 
And the buried blade of a dagger 

Told how she had gone to rest. 



#^| 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 71 




BABYLAND. 

"^'""^ "ll -^VE you heard of the Valley of Babyland, 
The realm where the dear little darlings 
stay, 
Till the kind storks go, as all men know, 

And oh, so tenderly bring them away ? 
The paths are winding and past all finding 
By all save the storks, who understand 
The gates and the highways and the intricate 
by-ways 

That lead to Babyland. 

All over the Valley of Babyland 

Sweet flowers bloom in the soft green moss. 
And under the ferns fair, and under the plants there 

Lie little heads like spools of floss. 
With a soothing number the river of slumber 

Flows o'er a bedway of silver sand ; 
And angels are keeping watch o'er the sleeping 
Babes of Babyland. 

The path to the Valley of Babyland 

Only the kingly, kind storks know ; 
If they fly over mountains, or wade through fount- 
ains. 



72 HOW S ALVA TOR IVOJV, 

No man sees them come or go. 
But an angel maybe, who guards some baby, 

Or a fairy, perhaps, with her magic wand. 
Brings them straightway to the wonderful gateway 
That leads to Babyland. 

And there, in the Valley of Babyland, 
Under the mosses and leaves and ferns, 

Like an unfledged starling they find the darling 
For whom the heart of a mother yearns ; 

And they lift him lightly and snug him tightly 
In feathers soft as a lady's hand. 

And off with a rockaway step they walk away 
Out of Babyland. 

As they go from the Valley of Babyland 

Forth into the world of great unrest. 
Sometimes w^eeping he wakes from sleeping 

Before he reaches the mother's breast. 
Ah, how she blesses him, how she caresses him. 

Bonniest bird in the bright home band 
That o'er land and water the kind stork brought 
her 

From far-off Babyland. 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS 73 



FISHING. 

AYBE this is fun, sitting in the sun, 
With a book and parasol, as my angler 
^> wishes. 

While he dips his line in the ocean brine, 
Under the impression that his bait will 
catch the fishes. 



'Tis romantic — yes, but I must confess 

Thoughts of shady rooms at home somehow seem 

more inviting. 
But I dare not move — " Quiet there, my love ! " 
Says my angler, " for I think a monster fish is 

biting." 

Ob, of course, it's bliss — but how hot it is ! 

And the rock I'm sitting on grows harder every 

minute ; 
Still my fisher waits, trying various baits, 
But the basket at his side, I see, has nothing in it. 

Oh, it's just the way to pass a July day, 
Arcadian and sentimental, dreamy, idle, charming ; 
But how fierce the sunlight falls ! and the way 

that insect crawls 
Along my neck and down my back is really quite 

alarming. 



74 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

*' Any luck ? " I gently ask of the angler at his task ; 
''There's something pulling at my line," he says ; 

" I've almost caught it." 
But when, with blistered face, we our homeward 

steps retrace. 
We take the little basket just as empty as we 

brought it. 




AND O'THER RECITATIONS. 75 




THE OLD STAGE QUEEN. 

"^ACK in her box by the curtains shaded 
g She sits alone, by the house unseen ; 
^Her eye is dim and her cheek is faded. 
She who once was the people's queen. 

The curtain rolls up, and she sees before her 
A vision of beauty and youth and grace. 
Ah ! no wonder all hearts adore her, 
Silver-throated and fair of face. 

Out of her box she leans and listens : 
O ! is it with pleasure or with despair 

That her thin cheek pales, and her dim eye glistens 
While that fresh young voice sings the grand old 
air ? 

She is back again in her past's bright splendor. 
When life was worth living and love was a truth ; 

Ere Time had told her she must surrender 
Her double dower of fame and youth. 

It is she herself who stands there singing 
To that sea of faces, that shines and stirs ; 

And the cheers on cheers that go up ringing 
And rousing the echoes, are hers, all hers ! 



76 HOW S ALVA TOR IVOJST, 

Just for one moment the sweet delusion 
Quickens her pulses, and blurs her sight, 

And wakes within her that wild confusion 
Of joy that is anguish and fierce delight. 

Then the curtain goes down, and the lights are 
gleaming 

Brightly o'er circle and box and stall ; 
She starts like a sleeper who wakes from dreaming: 

Her youth lies under Timer's funeral pall. 

Her day is dead, and her star descended 

Never to rise or to shine again ; 
Her reign is over, her queenship ended — 

A new name is sounded and sung by men 

All the glitter and glow and splendor, 

All the glory of that lost day, 
With the friends that seemed true and the love that 
seemed tender. 

Why, what is it all but a dead bouquet ! 

She rises to go ; has the night turned colder ? 

The new queen answers to call and shout ; 
And the old queen looks back over her shoulder 

As, ail unnoticed, she passes out. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 



n 



THE PRINCESS'S FINGER-NAIL. 



A TALE OF NONSENSE LAND. 




LL through the Castle of High-bred Ease, 
Where the chief employment was do-as- 
you-please, 
yipr Spread consternation and wild despair. 

jg The queen was wringing her hands and hair ; 

J The maids of honor were sad and solemn ; 
The pages looked blank as they stood in column ; 
The court-jester blubbered, " Boo-hoo, boo-hoo "; 
The cook in the kitchen dropped tears in the stew; 
And all through the castle went sob and wail, 
For the princess had broken her finger-nail : 
The beautiful Princess Red-as-a-Rose, 
Bride-elect of the Lord High-Nose, 
Broken her finger-nail down to the quick — ■ 
No wonder the queen and her court were sick. 
Never sorrow so dread before 
Had dared to enter that castle door. 
Oh ! what would my Lord His-High-Nose say 
When she took off her glove on her wedding-day ? 
The fairest princess in Nonsense Land, 
With a broken finger-nail on her hand ! 
'Twas a terrible, terrible accident. 



78 HOW SALVATOR WON, 

And they called a meeting of parliament ; 

And never before that royal Court 

Had come such question of grave import 

As " How could you hurry a nail to grow? " 

And the skill of the kingdom was called to show. 

They sent for Monsieur File-'em-off ; 

He smoothed down the corners so ragged and 

rough. 
They sent for Madame la Diamond-Dust, 
Who lived on the fingers of upper-crust ; 
They sent for Professor de Chamois-Skin, 
Who took her powder and rubbed it in ; 
They sent for the pudgy nurse Fat-on-the-bone 
To bathe her finger in eau de Cologne ; 
And they called the Court surgeon. Monsieur Red- 

Tape, 
To hear what he thought of the new nail's shape. 
Over the kingdom the telegrams flew 
Which told how the finger-nail thrived and grew ; 
And all through the realm of Nonsense Land 
They offered up prayers for the princess's hand. 
At length the glad tidings were heard with a 

shout 
That the princess's finger-nail had grown out: 
Pointed and polished and pink and clean, 
Befitting the hand of a some-day queen. 
Salutes were fired all over the land 
By the home-guard battery pop-gun band; 
And great was the joy of my Lord High-Nose, 
Who straightway ordered his wedding clothes, 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS, 79 

And paid his tailor, Don Wait-for-aye, 

Who died of amazement the self-same day. 

My lord by a jury was judged insane; 

For they said, and the truth of the saying was 

plain. 
That a lord of such very high pedigree 
Would never be paying his bills, you see, 
Unless he was out of his head; and so 
They locked him up without more ado. 
And the beautiful Princess Red-as-a-Rose 
Pined for her lover, my Lord High-Nose, 
Till she entered a convent and took the veil — 
And this is the end of my nonsense tale. 





8o HOW S ALVA TOR JVOJV, 



A BABY IN THE HOUSE. 

KNEW that a baby was hid in the house; 
^ Though I saw no cradle and heard no 
cry, 
But the husband went tiptoeing 'round 
like a mouse, 
And the good wife was humming a soft lul- 
laby ; 
And there was a look on the face of that mother 
That I knew could mean only {?72e thing, and no 
other. 

^* The mother^'' I said to myself ; for I knew 
That the woman before me was certainly that, 

For there lay in the corner a tiny cloth shoe, 
And I saw on the stand such a wee little hat ; 

And the beard of the husband said plain as could 
be, 

" Two fat, chubby hands have been tugging at me." 

And he took from his pocket a gay picture-book, 
And a dog that would bark if you pulled on a 
string ; 

And the wife laid them up with such a pleased look ; 
And I said to myself, ''There is no other thing 

But a babe that could bring about all this, and so 

That one is in hiding here somewhere, I know," 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 8i 

I stayed but a moment, and saw nothing more, 
And heard not a sound, yet I knew I was right ; 

What else could the shoe mean that lay on the floor, 
The book and the toy, and the faces so bright ? 

And what made the husband as still as a mouse ? 

I am sure, very sure, there's a babe in that house. 




82 JIOW S ALVA TOE WON, 




THE FOOLISH ELM. 

HE bold young Autumn came riding along 
One day where an elm-tree grew. 
" You are fair," he said, as she bent down 
her head, 
*'Too fair for your robe's dull hue. 

You are far too young for a garb so old ; . 
Your beauty needs color and sheen. 
Oh, I would clothe you in scarlet and gold 
Befitting the grace of a queen. 

" For one little kiss on your lips, sweet elm, 

For one little kiss, no more, 
I would give you, I swear, a robe more fair 

Than ever a princess wore. 
One little kiss on those lips, my pet, 

And lo ! you shall stand, I say, 
Queen of the forest, and, better yet. 

Queen of my heart alway." 

She tossed her head, but he took the kiss — 

'Tis the way of lovers bold — 
And a gorgeous dress for that sweet caress 

He gave ere the morning was old, 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 83 

For a week and a day she ruled a queen 

In beauty and splendid attire ; 
For a week and a day she was loved, I ween, 

With the love that is born of desire. 

Then bold-eyed Autumn went on his way 

In search of a tree more fair ; 
And mob winds tattered her garments and scattered 

Her finery here and there. 
Poor and faded and ragged and cold 

She rocked in her wild distress, 
And longed for the dull green gown she had sold 

For her fickle lover's caress. 

And the days went by and Winter came, 

And his tyrannous tempests beat 
On the shivering tree, whose robes of flame 

He had trampled under his feet. 
I saw her reach up to the mocking skies 

Her poor arms, bare and thin ; 
Ah, well-a-day ! it is ever the way 

With a woman who trades with sin. 



84 



JIOIV S ALVA TOE WON. 




ROBIN'S MISTAKE. 

HAT do you think Red Robin 
Found by a mow of hay ? 
Why, a flask brimful of liquor, 

That the mowers brought that day 
To slake their thirst in the hayfield. 

And Robin he shook his head : 
Now, I wonder what they call it, 
And how it tastes ? " he said. 



I have seen the mowers drink it — 

Why isn^t it good for me ? 
So I'll just draw out the stopper 

And get at the stuff, and see ! " 
But alas ! for the curious Robin, 

One draught, and he burned his throat 
From his bill to his poor crop's lining. 

And he could not utter a note. 



And his head grew light and dizzy, 
And he staggered left and right. 

Tipped over the flask of brandy, 
And spilled it, every mite. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 85 
But after awhile he sobered. 



And quietly flew away, 
And he never has tasted liquor, 
Or touched it, since that day. 

But I heard him say to his kindred, 

In the course of a friendly chat. 
These men think they are above us, 

Yet they drink such stuff as that ! 
Oh, the poor degraded creatures ! 

I am glad I am only a bird ! " 
Then he flew up over the meadow, 

And that was all I heard. 




S6 JffOW SAL V A TOR WON, 



NEW YEAR RESOLVE. 



^uMB^ 




g?S the dead year is clasped by a dead De- 
[^ cember, 

So let your dead sins with your dead 
days lie. 
A new life is yours and a new hope. Re- 
member 

We build our own ladders to climb to the 
sky. 

Stand out m the sunlight of promise, forgetting 
Whatever the past held of sorrow and wrong. 

We waste half our strength in a useless regretting; 
We sit by old tombs in the dark too long. 

Have you missed in your aim ? Well, the mark is 
still shining. 
Did you faint in the race? Well, take breath for 
the next. 
Did the clouds drive you back ? But see yonder 
their lining. 
Were you tempted and fell ? Let it serve for a 
text. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 87 

As each year hurries by, let it join that procession 
Of skeleton shapes that march down to the past 
While you take your place in the line of pro- 
gression, 
With your eyes to the heavens, your face to the 
blast. 

I tell you the future can hold no terrors 
For any sad soul while the stars revolve, 

If he will stand firm on the grave of his errors, 
And instead of regretting — resolve, resolve ! 

It is never too late to begin rebuilding. 

Though all into ruins your life seems hurled ; 

For see ! how the light of the New Year is gilding 
The wan, worn face of the bruised old world. 



4 



88 IfOW SALVATOJi WON, 



WHAT WE WANT. 

si^^^LL hail the dawn of a new day breaking, 
When a strong-armed nation shall take 
away 




4^ T^^ weary burdens from backs that are 
ill^ aching 

With maximum labor and minimum pay ; 
When no man is honored who hoards his 
millions ; 
When no man feasts on another's toil. 
And God's poor suffering, striving billions 
Shall share his riches of sun and soil. 

There is gold for all in the earth's broad bosom, 

There is food for all in the land's great store ; 
Enough is provided if rightly divided ; 

Let each man take what he needs — no more. 
Shame on the miser with unused riches, 

Who robs the toiler to swell his hoard, 
Who beats down the wage of the digger of ditches, 

And steals the bread from the poor man's board. 

Shame on the owner of mines whose cruel 

And selfish measures have brought him wealth, 

While the ragged wretches who dig his fuel 
Are robbed of comfort and hope and health. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 

Shame on the ruler who rides in his carriage 
Bought with the labor of half-paid men — 

Men who are shut out of home and marriage 
And are herded like sheep in a hovel pen. 

Let the clarion voice of the nation wake him 

To broader vision and fairer play ; 
Or let the hand of a just law shake him 

Till his ill-gained dollars shall roll away. 
Let no man dwell under a mountain of plunder, 

Let no man suffer with want and cold ; 
We want right living, not mere alms-giving ; 

We want just dividing of labor and gold. 





90 HOW S ALVA TOE WON, 



THE TWO GLASSES. 

HERE sat two glasses, filled to the brim, 
On a rich man's table, rim to rim. 
One was ruddy and red as blood. 
And one was as clear as the crystal flood. 

Said the glass of wine to his paler brother : 
" Let us tell tales of the past to each other. 
I can tell of banquet, and revel, and mirth, 
Where I was king, for I ruled in might ; 
And the proudest and grandest souls on earth 
Fell under my touch, as though struck with blight. 
From the heads of kings I have torn the crown ; 
From the heights of fame I have hurled men down ; 
I have blasted many an honored name ; 
I have taken virtue and given shame ; 
I have tempted the youth, with a sip, a taste, 
That has made his future a barren waste. 
Far greater than any king am I, 
Or than any army under the sky. 
I have made the arm of the driver fail. 
And sent the train from its iron rail. 
I have made good ships go down at sea. 
And the shrieks of the lost were sweet to me. 
Fame, strength, wealth, genius, before me fall, 
And my might and power are over all. 
Ho ! ho ! pale brother," laughed the wine, 
" Can you boast of deeds as great as mine ?" 



% 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 91 

Said the glass of water : " I cannot boast 

Of a king dethroned or a murdered host ; 

But I can tell of hearts that were sad, 

By my crystal drops made light and glad. 

Of thirsts I have quenched, and brows I have laved ; 

Of hands I have cooled and souls I have saved. 

I have leaped through the valley and dashed down 
the mountain ; 

Slept in the sunshine and dripped from the foun- 
tain. 

I have burst my cloud-fetters and dropped from 
the sky, 

And everywhere gladdened the landscape and eye. 

I have eased the hot forehead of fever and pain ; 

I have made the parched meadows grow fertile 
with grain ; 

I can tell of the powerful wheel o' the mill, 

That ground out the flour and turned at my will ; 

I can tell of manhood, debased by you, 

That I have uplifted and crowned anew. 

I cheer, I help, I strengthen and aid, 

I gladden the heart of man and maid ; 

I set the chained wine-captive free, 

And all are better for knowing me." 

These are the tales they told each other, 
The glass of wine, and its paler brother, 
As they sat together, filled to the brim, 
On the rich man's table, rim to rim. 



no IV S ALVA TOR WON. 




A PIN. 

' '^^f H, I know a certain woman who is reckoned 

with the good, 
1^^^ But she fills me with more terror than a 
q^** raging lion could. 

•^14 The little chills run up and down my spine 
whene'er we meet, 
Though she seems a gentle creature and 
she's very trim and neat. 

And she has a thousand virtues and not one 

acknowledged sin, 
But she is the sort of person you could liken to a 

pin. 
And she pricks you, and she sticks you, in a way 

that can't be said — 
When you seek for what has hurt you, why, you 

cannot find the head. 

But she fills you with discomfort and exasperating 

pain — 
If anybody asks you why, you really can't explain. 
A pin is such a tiny thing — of that there is no 

doubt — 
Yet when it's sticking in your flesh, you're wretched 

till it's out ! 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 93 

She is wonderfully observing. When she meets a 

pretty girl 
She is always sure to tell her if her " bang " is out 

of curl. 
And she is so sympathetic ; to her friend who's 

much admired, 
She is often heard remarking : " Dear, you look so 

worn and tired !" 

And she is a careful critic ; for on yesterday she 

eyed 
The new dress I was airing with a woman's natural 

pride. 
And she said : " Oh, how becoming !" and then 

softly added, ''It 
Is really a misfortune that the basque is such a 

fit." 

Then she said : " If you had heard me yestereve, 

I'm sure, my friend, 
You would say I am a champion who knows how 

to defend." 
And she left me with a feeling — most unpleasant, 

I aver — 
That the whole world would despise me if it hadn't 

been for her. 

Whenever I encounter her, in such a nameless way 
She gives me the impression I am at my worst that 
day J 



94 



HOW S ALVA TOR JVOJV, 



And the hat that was imported (and that cost me 

half a sonnet) 
With just one glance from her round eyes becomes 

a Bowery bonnet. 



She is always bright and smiling, sharp and shining 

for a thrust ; 
Use does not seem to blunt her point, nor does she 

gather rust. 
Oh ! I wish some hapless specimen of mankind 

would begin 
To tidy up the world for me, by picking up this 

pin. 



AND OTHER RECfTATIONS. 



95 



BREAKING THE DAY IN TWO. 

^l^^^f HEN from dawn till noon seems one long 
day, 



And from noon till night another, 
^P Oh, then should a little boy come from 
play. 
And creep into the arms of his mother. 
Snugly creep and fall asleep, 
O come, my baby, do; 
Creep into my lap, and with a nap, 
We'll break the day in two. 

When the shadows slant for afternoon, 

When the midday meal is over; 
When the winds have sung themselves into a 
swoon. 
And the bees drone in the clover. 
Then hie to me, hie, for a lullaby — 

Come, my baby, do; 
Creep into my lap, and with a nap 
We'll break the day in two, 



96 iroiv salvatOjR wojsr, 

We'll break it in two with a crooning song, 

With a soft and soothing number; 
For the day has no right to be so long 

And keep my baby from slumber. 
Then rock-a-by, rock, may white dreams flock 

Like angels over you; 
Baby'is gone, and the deed is done 

We've broken the day in two. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 97 




THE RAPE OF THE MIST. 

IGH o'er the clouds a Sunbeam shone, 
And far down under him, 
With a subtle grace that was all her own, 
The Mist gleamed, fair and dim. 

He looked at her with his burning eyes 
And longed to fall at her feet ; 
Of all sweet things there under the skies. 
He thought her the thing most sweet. 

He had wooed oft, as a sunbeam may, 

Wave, and blossom, and flower ; 
But never before had he felt the sway 

Of a great love's mighty power. 

Tall cloud-mountains and vast space-seas, 

Wind, and tempest, and fire — 
What are obstacles such as these 

To a heart that is filled with desire ? 

Boldly he trod over cloud and star, 

Boldly he swam through space. 
She caught the glow of his eyes afar 

And veiled her delicate face. 



98 HOW S ALVA TOR WOJV, 

He was so strong and he was so bright, 
And his breath was a breath of flame ; 

The Mist grew pale with a vague, strange fright. 
As fond, yet fierce, he came. 

Close to his heart she was clasped and kissed ; 

She swooned in love's alarms. 
And dead lay the beautiful pale-faced Mist 

In the Sunbeam's passionate arms. 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 99 




THE MANIAC. 

^ SAW them sitting in the shade ; 

The long green vines hung over, 
But could not hide the gold-haired maid 
And Earl, my dark-eyed lover. 
His arm was clasped so close, so close, 
Her eyes were softly lifted, 
While his eyes drank the cheek of rose 
And breasts like snowflakes drifted. 

A strange noise sounded in my brain ; 

I was a guest unbidden. 
I stole away, but came again 

With two knives snugly hidden. 
I stood behind them. Close they kissed, 

While eye to eye was speaking ; 
I aimed my steels, and neither missed 

The heart I sent it seeking. 

There were two death-shrieks mingled so 

It seemed like one voice crying. 
I laughed — it was such bliss, you know, 

To hear and see them dying. 



loo BOW SALVATOR WON, 

I laughed and shouted while I stood 

Above the lovers, gazing 
Upon the trickling rills of blood 

And frightened eyes fast glazing. 

It was such joy to see the rose 

Fade from her cheek forever ; 
To know the lips he kissed so close 

Could answer never, never. 
To see his arm grow stark and cold, 

And know it could not hold her ; 
To know that while the world grew old 

His eyes could not behold her. 

A crowd of people thronged about. 

Brought thither by my laughter ; 
I gave one last triumphant shout — 

Then darkness followed after. 
That was a thousand years ago ; 

Each hour I live it over, 
For there, just out of reach, you know, 

She lies, with Earl, my lover. 

They lie there, staring, staring so 

With great, glazed eyes to taunt me. 
Will no one bury them down low. 

Where they shall cease to haunt me ? 
He kissed her lips, not mine ; the flowers 

And vines hung all about them. 
Sometimes I sit and laugh for hours |B|. 

To think just how I found them. \ ( 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. loi 

And then I sometimes stand and shriek 

In agony of terror : 
I see the red warm in her cheek, 

Then laugh loud at my error. 
My cheek was all too pale, he thought ; 

He deemed hers far the brightest. 
Ha ! but my dagger touched a spot 

That made her face the whitest ! 

But oh, the days seem very long, 

Without my Earl, my lover ; 
And something in my head seems wrong 

The more I think it over. 
Ah ! look — she is not dead — look there ! 

She's standing close beside me ! 
Her eyes are open — how they stare ! 

Oh, hide me ! hide me ! hide me ! 



I02 



MOW SAL VA TOM WON, 




WHAT IS FLIRTATION ? 

HAT is flirtation ? Really, 
How can I tell you that? 
But when she smiles I see its wiles, 
And when he lifts his hat. 



'Tis walking in the moonlight, 

'Tis buttoning on a glove, 
'Tis lips that speak of plays next week, 

While eyes are talking love. 

Tis meeting in the ball-room, 

'Tis whirling in the dance ; 
'Tis something hid beneath the lid, 

More than a simple glance. 

'Tis lingering in the hallway, 

'Tis sitting on the stair, 
'Tis bearded lips on finger-tips, 

If mamma isn't there. 

'Tis tucking in the carriage, 

'Tis asking for a call ; 
'Tis long good-nights in tender lights, 

And that is — no, not all ! 



'Tis parting when it's over, 
And one goes home to sleep ; 

Best joys must end, tra la, my friend. 
But one goes home to weep ! 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 103 



HOW DOES LOVE SPEAK ? 




ll OW does Love speak? 

^ In the faint flush upon the tell-tale 

cheek, 
And in the pallor that succeeds it ; by 
The quivering lid of an averted eye — 
The smile that proves the parent of a sigh : 
Thus doth Love speak. 

How does Love speak ? 
By the uneven heart-throbs, and the freak 
Of bounding pulses that stand still and ache. 
While new emotions, like strange barges, make 
Along vein-channels their disturbing course, 
Still as the dawn, and with the dawn's swift force: 

Thus doth Love speak. 

How does Love speak ? 
In the avoidance of that which we seek — 
The sudden silence and reserve when near ; 
The eye that glistens with an unshed tear ; 
The joy that seems the counterpart of fear, 
As the alarmed heart leaps in the breast, 
And knows, and names, and greets its godlike 
guest : 

Thus doth Love speak. 



I04 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

How does Love speak ? 
In the proud spirit suddenly grown meek, 
The haughty heart grown humble ; in the tender 
And unnamed light that floods the world with 

splendor ; 
In the resemblance which the fond eyes trace 
In all fair things to one beloved face ; 
In the shy touch of hands that thrill and tremble ; 
In looks and lips that can no more dissemble : 
Thus doth Love speak. 

How does Love speak ? 
In wild words that uttered seem so weak 
They shrink ashamed to silence ; in the fire 
Glance strikes with glance, swift flashing high and 

higher, 
Like lightnings that precede the mighty storm ; 
In the deep, soulful stillness ; in the warm, 
Impassioned tide that sweeps thro' throbbing veins, 
Between the shores of keen delights and pains ; 
In the embrace where madness melts in bliss. 
And in the convulsive rapture of a kiss : 
Thus doth Love speak. 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 105 



AS YOU GO THROUGH LIFE. 

?^ON'T look for the flaws as you go through 
life ; 
^y^ And even when you find them, 

It is wise and kind to be somewhat blind 
And look for the virtue behind them. 
For the cloudiest night has a hint of light 
Somewhere in its shadows hiding ; 
It is better by far to hunt for a star, 
Than the spots on the sun abiding. 

The current of life runs ever away 

To the bosom of God's great ocean. 
Don't set your force 'gainst the river's course 

And think to alter its motion. 
Don't waste a curse on the universe — 

Remember it lived before you. 
Don't butt at the storm with your puny form, 

But bend and let it go o'er you. 

The world will never adjust itself 

To suit your whims to the letter. 
Some things must go wrong your whole life long, 

And the sooner you know it the better. 
It is folly to fight with the Infinite, 

And go under at last in the wrestle ; 
The wiser man shapes into God's plan 

As water shapes into a vessel. 



:o6 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 




MEMORY'S RIVER. 

pN Nature's bright blossoms not always re- 
poses 
n'^'^ That strange subtle essence more rare 
than their bloom, 
Which lies in the hearts of carnations and 
p roses. 

That unexplained something by men called per- 
fume. 
Though modest the flower, yet great is its power 
And pregnant with meaning each pistil and leaf, 
If only it hides there, if only abides there, 

The fragrance suggestive of love, joy and grief. 

Not always the air that a master composes 

Can stir human heart-strings with pleasure or 
pain. 
But strange, subtle chords, like the scent of the 
roses. 
Breathe out of some measures, though simple the 
strain. 
And lo ! when you hear them, you love them and 
fear them. 
You tremble with anguish, you thrill with de- 
light, 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 107 

For back of them slumber old dreams without 
number, 
And faces long vanished peer out into sight. 

Those dear foolish days when the earth seemed all 
beauty, 
Before you had knowledge enough to be sad ; 
When youth held no higher ideal of duty 

Than just to lilt on through the world and be 
glad. 
On harmony's river they seemed to float hither 
With all the sweet fancies that hung round that 
time — 
Life's burdens and troubles turn into air-bubbles 
And break on the music's swift current of rhyme. 

Fair Folly comes back with her spell while you 
listen 
And points to the paths where she led you of 
old. 
You gaze on past sunsets, you see dead stars 
glisten, 
You bathe in life's glory, you swoon in death's 
cold. 
All pains and all pleasures surge up through those 
measures. 
Your heart is wrenched open with earthquakes 
of sound ; 
From ashes and embers rise Junes and Decem- 
bers, 
Lost islands in fathoms of feeling refound. 



io8 irOW SAL VA TOR WON, 

Some airs are like outlets of memory's oceans, 

They rise in the past and flow into the heart ; 
And down them float shipwrecks of mighty emo- 
tions, 
All sea-soaked and storm-tossed and drifting 
apart : 
Their fair timbers battered, their lordly sails tat- 
tered. 
Their skeleton crew of dead days on their decks ; 
Then a crash of chords blending, a crisis, an end- 
ing— 
The music is over, and vanished the wrecks. 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS, 109 



THE LADY AND THE DAME. 

^O thou hast the art, good dame, thou 
swearest, 
To keep Timers perishing touch at bay 
From the roseate splendor of the cheek 
so tender. 
And the silver threads from the gold away; 
And the tell-tale years that have hurried 
by us 
Shall tiptoe back, and, with kind good-will, 
They shall take their traces from off our faces, 
If we will trust to thy magic skill. 

Thou speakest fairly ; but if I listen 

And buy thy secret and prove its truth, 
Hast thou the potion and magic lotion 

To give me also the heart of youth ? 
With the cheek of rose and the eye of beauty, 

And the lustrous locks of life's lost prime, 
Wilt thou bring thronging each hope and longing 

That made the glory of that dead Time ? 

When the sap in the trees sets young buds burst- 
ing, 

And the song of the birds fills the air like spray, 
Will rivers of feeling come once more stealing 

From the beautiful hills of the far-away ? 



no HOW SALVATOR WON, 

Wilt thou demolish the tower of reason 
And fling forever down into the dust, 

The caution time brought me, the lessons life 
taught me, 
And put in their places my old sweet trust ? 

If Time's footprint from my brow is driven, 

Canst thou, too, take with thy subtle powers 
The burden of thinking, and let me go drinking 

The careless pleasures of youth's bright hours ? 
If silver threads from my tresses vanish. 

If a glow once more in my pale cheek gleams. 
Wilt thou slay duty and give back the beauty 

Of days untroubled by aught but dreams ? 

When the soft, fair arms of the siren Summer 

Encircle the earth in their languorous fold. 
Will vast, deep oceans of sweet emotions 

Surge through my veins as they surged of old ? 
Canst thou bring back from a day long vanished 

The leaping pulse and the boundless aim ? 
I will pay thee double for all thy trouble, 

If thou wilt restore all these, good dame. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. in 



A MARRIED COQUETTE 



^^^^IT still, I say, and dispense with heroics ! 
^l^ftl ^ hurt your wrists? Well, you have 

J 11^^ hurt me. 

It is time you found out that all men are 
not stoics, 
Nor toys to be used as your mood may be. 
/ will not let go of your hands, nor leave you 
Until I have spoken. No man, you say, 
Dared ever so treat you before ? I believe you, 
For you have dealt only with boys till to-day. 

You women lay stress on your fine perception, 

Your intuitions are prated about ; 
You claim an occult sort of conception 

Of matters which men must reason out. 
So then, of course, when you asked me kindly 

" To call again soon," you read my heart. 
I cannot believe you were acting blindly ; 

You saw my passion for you from the start. 

You are one of those women who charm without 
trying ; 

The clay you are made of is magnet ore, 
And I am the steel ; yet, there's no denying 

You led me to loving you more and more. 



112 HO IV S ALVA TOR WON, 

You are fanning a flame that may burn too brightly, 
Oft easily kindled, but hard to put out ; 

I am not a man to be played with lightly, 
To come at a gesture and go at a pout. 

A brute you call me, a creature inhuman ; 

You say I insult you, and bid me go. 
And you ? Oh, you are a saintly woman, 

With thoughts as pure as the drifted snow. 
Pah ! you are but one of a thousand beauties 

Who think they are living exemplary lives. 
They break no commandments, and do all their 
duties 

As Christian women and spotless wives. 

But with drooping of lids, and lifting of faces. 

And baring of shoulders, and well-timed sighs, 
And the devil knows what other subtle graces. 

You are mental wantons, who sin with the eyes. 
You lure love to wake, yet bid it keep under. 

You tempt us to fall, but bid reason control ; 
And then you are full of an outraged wonder 

When we get to wanting you, body and soul. 

Why, look at yourself ! You were no stranger 
To the fact that my heart was already on fire. 

When you asked me to call you knew my danger, 
Yet here you are, dressed in the gown I admire ; 

For half of the evil on earth is invented 
By vain, pretty women with nothing to do 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 113 

But to keep themselves manicured, powdered and 
scented, 
And seek for sensations amusing and new. 

But when I play at love at a lady's commanding, 

I always am certain to win one game ; 
So there — there — there ! I will leave my branding 
. On the lips that are free now to cry " Shame, 

shame !" 
You hate me ? Quite likely ! It does not surprise 
me. 
Brute force ? I confess it ; but still you were 
kissed ; 
And one thing Is certain — you cannot despise me 
For having been played with, controlled, and 
dismissed. 

And the next time you see that a man is attracted 

By the beauty and graces that are not for him, 
Don't lead him on to be half distracted ; 

Keep out of deep waters although you can swim. 
For when he is caught in the whirlpool of passion, 

Where many bold swimmers are seen to drown, 
A man will reach out and, in desperate fashion. 

Will drag whoever is nearest him down. 

Though the strings of his heart may be wrenched 
and riven 

By a maiden coquette who has led him along. 
She can be pardoned, excused and forgiven, 

For innocence blindfolded walks into wrong. 



114 HOW SALVATOR WON, 

But she who has willingly taken the fetter 
That Cupid forges at Hymen's command — 

Well, she is the woman who ought to know better; 
She needs no mercy at any man's hand. 

In the game of hearts, though a woman be winner, 

The odds are ever against her, you know ; 
The world is ready to call her a sinner, 

And man is ready to make her so. 
Shame is likely, and sorrow is certain. 

And the man has the best of it, end as it may. 
So now, my lady, we'll drop the curtain. 

And put out the lights. We are through with 
our play. 



% 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 115 




A PLEA. 

I^OLUMBI A, large-hearted and tender, 
Too long for the good of your kin 
'^^^ You have shared your home's comfort 
4l^ and splendor 

Ivj" With all who have asked to come in. 
The smile of your true eyes has lighted 
The way to your wide-open door ; 
You have held out full hands and invited 
The beggar to take from your store. 

Your overrun proud sister nations, 

Whose offspring you help them to keep, 

Are sending their poorest relations — 

^Their unruly, vicious black sheep. 

Unwashed and unlettered you take them. 
And lo ! we are pushed from your knee ; 

We are governed by laws as they make them, 
We are slaves in the land of the free. 

Columbia, you know the devotion 

Of those who have sprung from your soil, -v 
Shall aliens born over the ocean 

Dispute us the fruits of our toil ? 



ii6 JIOW SALVATOR WON. 



Most noble and gracious of mothers, 
Your children rise up and demand 

That you bring us no more foster-brothers 
To breed discontent in the land. 

Be prudent before you are zealous — 

Not generous only, but just ; 
Our hearts are grov^rn wrathful and jealous 

Toward those who have outraged your trust. 
They jostle and crowd in our places, 

They sneer at the comforts you gave ; 
We say, shut the door in their faces 

Until they have learned to behave. 

In hearts that are greedy and hateful. 

They harbor ill-will and deceit ; 
They ask for more favors, ungrateful 

For those you have poured at their feet. 
Rise up in your grandeur, and straightway 

Bar out the bold, clamoring mass ; 
Let sentinels stand at your gateway. 

To see who is worthy to pass. 

Give first to your own faithful toilers 

The freedom our birthright should claim. 
And take from these ruthless despoilers 

The power which they use to our shame. 
Columbia, too long you have dallied 

With foes whom you feed from your store ; 
It is time that your wardens were rallied 

And stationed outside the locked door, 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 117 




THE SUMMER GIRL. 

isl^^^HE'S the jauntiest of creatures, she's the 
daintiest of misses, 
With her pretty patent leathers or her 
alligator ties, 
With her eyes inviting glances and her lips 
inviting kisses. 
As she wanders by the ocean or strolls under 
country skies. 

She's a captivating dresser^, and her parasols are 
stunning, 
Her fads will take your breath away, her hats 
are dreams of style ; 
She is not so very bookish, but with repartee and 
punning 
She can set the savants laughing and make even 
dudelets smile. 

She has no attacks of talent, she is not a stage- 
struck maiden ; 
She is wholly free from hobbies, and she dreams 
of no " career ; " 



ii8 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

She is mostly gay and happy, never sad or care- 
beladen, 
Though she sometimes sighs a little if a gentle- 
man is near. 

She's a sturdy little walker and she braves all 
kinds of weather, 
And when the rain or fog or mist drive rival 
crimps a-wreck. 
Her fluffy hair goes curling like a kinked-up ostrich 
feather 
Around her ears and forehead and the white 
nape of her neck. 

She is like a fish in water ; she can handle reins 
and racket ; 
From head to toe and finger-tips she^s thoroughly 
alive ; 
When she goes promenading in a most distracting 
jacket, 
The rustle round her feet suggests how laun- 
dresses may thrive. 

She can dare the wind and sunshine in the most 
bravado manner. 
And after hours of sailing she has merely cheeks 
of rose ; 
Old Sol himself seems smitten and at most will 
only tan her, 
Though to everybody else he gives a danger- 
signal nose. c 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 119 



She^s a trifle sentimental, and she's fond of admi- 
ration, 
And she sometimes flirts a little in the season's 
giddy whirl ; 
But win her if you can, sir, she may prove your 
life's salvation. 
For an angel masquerading oft is she, the sum- 
mer girl. 



120 HOJV SALVATOJi WON, 



THE BEAUTIFUL BLUE DANUBE." 



[With " Blue Danube Waltz " as musical accompaniment.] 




HEY drift down the hall together, 
He smiles in her lifted eyes ; 
Like waves of that mighty river, 
The strains of the " Danube " rise. 
They float on its rhythmic measure, 
Like leaves on a summer stream ; 
And here, in this scene of pleasure, 
I bury my sweet, dead dream. 

Through the cloud of her dusky tresses, 

Like a star shines out her face ; 
And the form his strong arm presses, 

Is sylph-like in its grace. 
As a leaf on the bounding river 

Is lost on the seething sea, 
I know that forever and ever 

My dream is lost to me. 

And still the viols are playing 
That grand old wordless rhyme ; 

And still those two are swaying 
In perfect tune and time. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 121 

If the great bassoons that mutter, 

If the clarionets that blow, 
Were given a voice to utter 

The secret things they know, 

Would the lists of the slain who slumber 

On the Danube's battle-plains 
The unknown hosts outnumber 

Who die, 'neath the " Danube's " strains ? 
Those fall where cannons rattle, 

'Mid the rain of shot and shell ; 
But these, in a fiercer battle. 

Find death in the music's swell. 

With the river's roar of passion 

Is blended the dying groan ; 
But here, in the halls of fashion. 

Hearts break and make no moan. 
And the music, swelling and sweeping. 

Like the river, knows it all ; 
But none are counting or keeping 

The lists of those who fall. 



--M%r%r%^ 



122 HOW SALVATOR WON, 




THE BIRTH OF THE OPAL. 

HE Sunbeam loved the Moonbeam, 
And followed her low and high ; 
But the Moonbeam fled and hid her head- 
She was so shy, so shy. 



The Sunbeam wooed with passion. 

Ah ! he was a lover bold ; 
And his heart was afire with mad desire 

For the Moonbeam, pale and cold. 

She fled like a dream before him, 
Her hair was a shining sheen ; 

And, oh, that Fate would annihilate 
The space that lay between ! 

Just as the Day lay panting 

In the arms of the Twilight dim. 

The Sunbeam caught the one he sought 
And drew her close to him. 

But out of his warm arms startled, 
And stirred by love's first shock, 

She sprang afraid, like a trembling maid, 
And hid in the niche of a rock. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 123 

And the Sunbeam followed and found her, 

And led her to love's own feast, 
And they were wed on that rocky bed, 

And the dying Day was their priest. 

And, lo ! the beautiful Opal, 

That rare and wondrous gem, 
Where the Moon and Sun blend into one. 

Is the child that was born to them. 





124 BOW S ALVA TOR WON, 



SOUNDS FROM THE BASEBALL FIELD. 

JaTTER in the home place, 
That was nobly done ; 
Try and get the first base — 
-4^^ Run! Run! RUN! 

Ah, there, short stop, will you miss ? 
Hear the people cheer and hiss. 

Hear them yell and shout. 
Twinkling legs and flying feet — 
(Oh, I wonder who will beat ! ) 

Faster, faster, out ! 
Umpire, umpire, go along ; 
That was wrong, sir, that was wrong. 

Pitcher pitches, four balls, 

"Take your base, my man." 
Toward the second now he crawls — 

*^ Steal it if you can." 
Oh, the ball has gone so high. 
Can they catch it on the fly ? 

Ah, there is no doubt. 
He will get his third, I vow — 
Pshaw ! the ball has got there now, 

" Two men out ! " 
Umpire, umpire, that was wrong; 
Go along, sir, go along. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 125 

One man on the first base, 

Not a single run. 
Boys are warming to the race — 

Now look out for fun. 
Pitcher's arm maybe is tired ; 
Batter sudden seems inspired, 

Grounds the ball to win. 
Run there, run there, run your best, 
I am screaming with the rest: 

'' Two men in V 
Umpire, umpire, go away ; 
Dead wrong, dead wrong, sir, I say. 

What^s the matter now, pray ? 

Taking breath, that's all ; 
But the restless people say 

" Play ball, play ball.'' 
One ball, two strikes, two balls — " Foul ' 
Umpire calls, and people howl : 

** What is he about?" 
Run, run, run, run, Run, Run, RUN ! 
Half the inning now is done, 

" Three men out ! " 
Umpire, umpire, go along ; 
You are always, always wrong. 



126 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 



A WALTZ-QUADRILLE. 



[With Musical Accompaniment.] 




HE band was playing a waltz-quadrille ; 
I felt as light us a wind-blown feather, 
As we floated away at the caller's will, 
Through the intricate, mazy dance to- 
gether. 
Like mimic armies our lines were meeting, 
Slowly advancing, and then retreating 

All decked in their bright array ; 
And back and forth to the music's rhyme 
We moved together, and all the time 
I knew you were going away. 

The fold of your strong arm sent a thrill 

From heart to brain as we gently glided, 
Like leaves, on the wave of that waltz-quadrille. 
Parted, met, and again divided — 

You drifting one way, and I another : 

Then suddenly turning and facing each other ; 

Then off in the blithe chassee; 
Then airily back to our places swaying. 
While every beat of the music seemed saying 
That you were going away. ^ 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 127 

I said to my heart : " Let us take our fill 

Of mirth, and music, and love and laughter; 
For it all must end with this waltz-quadrille, 
And life will be never the same life after. 
Oh, that the caller might go on calling, 
Oh, that the music might go on falling 

Like a shower of silver spray, 
While we whirled on to the vast Forever, 
Where no heart breaks, and no ties sever. 
And no one goes away/' 

A clamor, a crash, and the band was still — 

'Twas the end of the dream, and the end of the 
measure ; 
The last low notes of that waltz-quadrille 

Seemed like a dirge o'er the death of Pleasure. 
You said good-night, and the spell was over — 
Too warm for a friend, and too cold for a 
lover — 
There was nothing else to say ; 
But the lights looked dim, and the dancers 

weary. 
And the music was sad and, the hall was dreary, 
After you went away. 



128 no IV SALVATOR WON, 




ANSWERED. 

I* 
OOD-BYE — yes, I am going. 

Sudden ? Well, you are right ; 

But a startling truth came home to me 

With sudden force last night. 

What is it ? Shall I tell you— 

Nay, that is why I go ; 

I am running away from the battle-field, 

Turning my back on the foe. 

Riddles ? You think me cruel ! 

Have you not been most kind ? 
Why, when you question me like that 

What answer can I find ? 
You fear you failed to amuse me. 

Your husband's friend and guest. 
Whom he bade you entertain and please t 

Well, you have done your best. 

Then why am I going ? Listen : 

A friend of mine abroad. 
Whose theories I have been acting upon, 

Has proven himself a fraud. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 129 

You have heard me quote from Plato 

A thousand times, no doubt ; 
Well, I have discovered he did not know 

What he was talking about. 

You think I am speaking strangely? 

You cannot understand ? 
Well, let me look down into your eyes, 

And let me hold your hand. 
I am running away from danger — 

I am flying before I fall ; 
I am going because with heart and soul 

I love you — that is all. 
There, now, you are white with anger ; 

I knew it would be so. 
You should not question a man too close 

When he tells you he must go. 



^1 



% 



Id 



^%i #^#^i 



P 



130 now S ALVA TOR WON, 




THE SIGN-BOARD. 

?• WILL paint you a sign, rumseller, 
And hang it above your door ; 
A truer and better signboard 
Than ever you had before. 
I will paint with the skill of a master, 

And many shall pause to see 
This wonderful piece of painting, 
So like the reality. 



I will paint yourself, rumseller. 

As you wait for that fair young boy, 
Just in the morning of manhood, 

A mother's pride and joy. 
He has no thought of stopping, 

But you greet him with a smile, 
And you seem so blithe and friendly. 

That he pauses to chat awhile. 

I will paint you again, rumseller, 
I will paint you as you stand, 

With a foaming glass of liquor 
Extended in your hand. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 131 

He wavers, but you urge him — 

Dritik, pledge me just this one ! 
And he takes the glass and drains it, 

And the hellish work is done. 

And next I will paint a drunkard — 

Only a year has flown, 
But into that loathsome creature 

The fair young boy has grown. 
The work was sure and rapid. 

I will paint him as he lies 
In a torpid, drunken slumber, 

Under the wintry skies. 

I will paint the form of the mother 

As she kneels at her darling's side, 
Her beautiful boy that was dearer 

Than all the world beside. 
I will paint the shape of a coffin. 

Labeled with one word — ^' lost," 
I will paint all this, rurnseller, 

And will paint it free of cost. 

The sin and the shame and the sorrow, 

The crime and the want and the woe 
That are born there in your workshop. 

No hand can paint, you know. 
But ril paint you a sign, rurnseller, 

And many shall pause to view 
This wonderful swinging signboard. 

So terribly, fearfully true. 



132 HOW SALVATOR WON, 

ABOUT MAY. 



i^^^o^* 




f NE night Nurse Sleep held out her hand 
To tired little May. 
" Come, go with me to Wonderland," 
She said, '' I know the way. 
Just rock-a-by — hum — m — m, 
And lo ! we come 
To the place where the dream-girls play." 

But naughty May, she wriggled away 
From Sleep's soft arms, and said : 
" I must stay awake till I eat my cake, 
And then I will go to bed ; 

With a by-lo, away I will go." 

But the good nurse shook her head. 

She shook her head and away she sped. 
While May sat munching her crumb. 

But after the cake there came an ache. 
Though May cried : '^ Come, Sleep, come. 

And it^s oh ! my ! let us by-lo-by " — 
All save the echoes were dumb. 

She ran after Sleep toward Wonderland, 

Ran till the morning light ; 
And just as she caught her and grasped her 
hand, 

A nightmare gave her a fright. 
And it's by-lo, I hope she'll know 

Better another night. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 133 



THE GIDDY GIRL. 



[This recitation is intended to be given with an accom- 
paniment of waltz music, introducing dance-steps at the 
refrain: "With one, two, three," etc.] 




GIDDY young maiden with nimble feet, 
Heigh-ho ! alack and alas ! 
Declared she would far rather dance than 
eat, 
And the truth of it came to pass. 
I For she danced all day and she danced all 

night ; 
She danced till the green earth faded white ; 
She danced ten partners out of breath ; 
She danced the eleventh one quite to death ; 
And still she redowaed up and down — 
The giddiest girl in town. 
With one, two, three ; one, two, three ; one, two, 

three — kick ; 
Chassee back, chassee back, whirl around quick. 

The name of this damsel ended with E — 

Heigh-ho ! alack and a-day ! 
And she was as fair as a maiden need be, 

Till she danced her beauty away. 



134 ^OW SALVATOR WON, 

She danced her big toes out of joint ; 

She danced her other toes all to a point ; 

She danced out slipper and boot and shoe ; 

She danced till the bones of her feet came through. 

And still she redovvaed, waltzed and whirled — 

The giddiest girl in the world. 

With one, two, three ; one, two, three ; one, two, 

three — kick ; 
Chassee back, chassee back, whirl around quick. 

Now the end of my story is sad to relate — 

Heigh-ho ! and away we go ! 
For this beautiful maiden's final fate 

Is shrouded in gloom and woe. 
She danced herself into a patent top ; 
She whirled and whirled till she could not stop ; 
She danced and bounded and sprang so far. 
That she stuck at last on a pointed star ; 
And there she must dance till the Judgment Day, 
And after it, too, for she danced away 
Her soul, you see, so she has no place anywhere 

out of space. 
With her one, two, three ; one, two, three ; one, two, 

three — kick ; 
Chassee back, chassee back, whirl about quick. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 135 



DELL AND L 



iH 




'N a mansion grand, just over the way, 
Lives bonny, beautiful Dell ; 
You may have heard of this lady gay, 
For she is a famous belle. 
I live in a low cot opposite, 

You never have heard of me ; 
For when the lady moon shines bright, 
Who would a pale star see ? 
But ah, well, ah, well ! I am happier far than Dell, 
As strange as that may be. 

Dell has robes of the richest kind — 

Pinks and purples and blues. 
xAnd she worries her maid and frets her mind 

To know which one to choose. 
Which shall it be now, silk or lace? 

In which will I be most fair ? 
She stands by the mirror with anxious face, 

And her maid looks on in despair. 
x\h, well, ah, well ! I am not worried, you see, like 
Dell, 

For I have but one to wear. 



136 HOW SALVATOR WON, 

Dell has lovers of every grade, 

Of every age and style ; 
Suitors flutter about the maid, 

And bask in her word and smile. 
She keeps them all, with a coquette's art. 

As suits her mood or mirth, 
And vainly wonders if in one heart 

Of all true love has birth. 
Ah, well, ah, well ! I never question myself like 
Dell, 

For I know a true heart's worth. 

Pleasure to Dell seems stale and old, 

Often she sits and sighs ; 
Life to me is a tale untold, 

Each day is a glad surprise. 
Dell will marry, of course, some day 

After her belleship is run ; 
She will cavil the matter in worldly way 

And wed Dame Fortune's son. 
But, ah, well, sweet to tell, I shall not dally and 
choose like Dell, 

For I love and am loved by — one. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 137 




VANITY FAIR. 



(^N Vanity Fair, as we bow and smile, 

As we talk of the opera after the 



weather, 
As we chat of fashion and fad and style, 

We know we are playing a part together. 
You know that the mirth she wears, she 
borrows ; 
She knows you laugh but to hide your sorrows ; 
We know that under the silks and laces, 
And back of beautiful, beaming faces, 
Lie secret trouble and grim despair, 
In Vanity Fair. 

In Vanity Fair, on dress parade, 

Our colors look bright and our swords are gleam- 
ing ; 
But many a uniform's worn and frayed. 

And most of the weapons, despite their seeming, 
Are dull and blunted and badly battered, 
And close inspection will show how tattered 
And stained are the banners that float above us. 
Our comrades hate, while they swear to love us ; 
And robed like Pleasure walks gaunt-eyed Care, 
In Vanity Fair. 



13H now S ALVA TOR WON, 

In Vanity Fair, as we strive for place, 

As we rush and jostle and crowd and hurry, 

We know the goal is not worth the race — 
We know the prize is not worth the worry ; 

That all our gain means loss for another ; 

That in fighting for self we wound each other ; 

That the crown of success weighs hard and presses 

The brow of the victor with thorns — not caresses ; 

That honors are empty and worthless to wear, 
In Vanity Fair. 

But in Vanity Fair, as we pass along. 

We meet strong hearts that are worth the know- 
ing ; 
'Mong poor paste jewels that deck the throng, 

We see a solitaire sometimes glowing. 
We find grand souls under robes of fashion, 
'Neath light demeanors hide strength and passion ; 
And fair fine honor and Godlike resistance. 
In halls of pleasure may have existence ; 
And we find pure altars and shrines of prayer, 
In Vanity Fair. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 



139 



A GIRL'S AUTUMN REVERIE. 




plucked a red rose, you and I, 
All in the summer weather. 
Sweet its perfume and rare its bloom, 
Enjoyed by us together. 
The rose is dead, the summer fled. 
And bleak winds are complaining ; 
We dwell apart, but in each heart 
V/e find the thorn remaining. 



We sipped a sweet wine, you and I, 

All in the summer weather. 
The beaded draught we lightly quaffed, 

And filled the glass together. 
Together watched its rosy glow, 

And saw its bubbles glitter ; 
Apart, alone, we only know 

The lees are very bitter. 



We walked in sunshine, you and I, 

All in the summer weather. 
The very night seemed noonday bright 

When we two were together. 



I40 JlOir SAL FA TO J^ WON, 

I wonder why with our good-by 
O'er hill and vale and meadow 

There fell such shade, our paths seemed laid 
Forevermore in shadow. 

We dreamed a sweet dream, you and I, 

All in the summer weather, 
Where rose and wine and warm sunshine 

Were mingled in together. 
We dreamed that June was with us yet, 

We woke to find December. 
We dreamed that we two could forget, 

We woke but to remember. 




AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 141 




GETHSEMANE. 

N golden youth, when seems the earth 
A summer land of singing mirth, 
When souls are glad and hearts are light, 
And not a shadow lurks in sight. 
We do not know it, but there lies. 
Somewhere veiled under evening skies, 
A garden all must sometime see — 
The garden of Gethsemane. 

With joyous steps we go our ways ; 
Love lends a halo to our days. 
Light sorrows sail like clouds afar, 
We laugh and say how strong we are ! 
We hurry on, and, hurrying, go 
Close to the borderland of woe 
That waits for you, and waits for me. 
Forever waits — Gethsemane. 

Down shadowy lanes, across strange streams, 
Bridged over by our broken dreams, 
Behind the misty caps of years. 
Beyond the great salt fount of tears 



142 HOW SALVATOR WON, 

The garden lies. Strive as you may, 
You cannot miss it in your way. 
All paths that have been or may be. 
Pass somewhere through Gethsemane. 

All those who journey, soon or late, 
Must pass within the garden's gate ; 
Must kneel alone in darkness there. 
And battle with some fierce despair. 
God pity those who cannot say 
'' Not mine but Thine ;" who only pray 
" Let this cup pass," and cannot see 
Th-Q, purpose in Gethsemane. 




ANV OTHER RECITATIONS. 143 




THE COMING MAN. 

f H, not for the great departed, 

Who formed our country's laws, 
And not for the bravest-hearted 
Who died in freedom's cause, 
And not for some living hero 
To whom all bend the knee, 
My muse would raise her song of praise — 
But for the man to be. 

For out of the strife which woman 

Is passing through to-day, 
A man that is more than human 

Shall yet be born, I say. 
A man in whose pure spirit 

No dross of self will lurk; 
A man who is strong to cope with wrong, 

A man who is proud to work. 

A man with hope undaunted, 

A man with godlike power, 
Shall come when he most is wanted, 

Shall come at the needed hour. 



144 HOW SALVATOR WON, 

He shall silence the din and clamor 

Of clan disputing with clan, 
And toil's long fight with purse-proud might 

Shall triumph through this man. 

I know he is coming, coming. 

To help, to guide, to save. 
Though I hear no martial drumming. 

And see no flags that wave. 
But the great soul travail of woman, 

And the bold free thought unfurled, 
Are heralds that say he is on the way — 

The coming man of the world. 

Mourn not for vanished ages 

With their great heroic men. 
Who dwell in history's pages 

And live in the poet's pen. 
For the grandest times are before us, 

And the world is yet to see 
The noblest worth of this old earth 

In the men that are to be. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 



147 



DICK'S FAMILY. 




HEN Dick, the little deformed invalid, 
hobbled from his bed into his chair- 
lounge at the window, where he reclined 
all day long, he saw a rosy-cheeked 
young woman polishing the windows across 
the street. 

His pale face tinged with a sudden glow, 
and his painfully brilliant eyes shone with an in- 
creased lustre. 

'' Well, I declare if my house isn^t occupied ! " he 
cried, and he lifted the window and peered across 
the way with such an excited countenance, that the 
young woman opposite paused in her work to re- 
gard him. But after a moment's observation the 
startled look in her face gave place to pity, for she 
saw that the great shining eyes were those of an 
invalid — an invalid child, she thought. 

" Poor child ; poor little fellow," she said to her- 
self, " and such a pretty face, too !" 

But Dick was twenty-two years old, wdth a man^s 



148 110 IV S ALVA TOR WON. 



heart and a man's longings shut up in his deformed 
body. But since he was compelled to pass his days 
between a bed and a chair, with an occasional hour 
down on the curbing in the sunlight of a warm day, 
he found his whole enjoyment in his imagination. 
And wonderful flights it took, flights and freaks 
suspected by no one save good old Dr. Griffin, his 
one confidant. 

He had known Dick ever since his advent into his 
life of misery. Dick's mother had been the beauty 
of the street more than a score of years ago. Old 
Benjamin Levy, her father, was a hard man, and to 
escape the barren home and dreary life, pretty Josie 
eloped with a handsome Christian whom she had 
met while promenading on the street. Her father 
had uttered a terrible curse when the knowledge 
of her flight came to him ; and scarce two years 
later the curse had fallen, for pretty Josie came 
home to die, and to leave her invalid baby as the 
constant reminder of the fulfilment of his curse, to 
her father. 

Dr. Grifliii had been retained during all these 
years as Dick's physician ; for the one thing in 
which old Benjamin showed no parsimony was in 
the care of this little deformed grandchild. A little 
shop v/here he sold second-hand clothing, and a 
couple of small rooms above it, for living purposes 
constituted his Jitenage. 

Directly opposite was a three-story and base- 
ment brick house, which had in its day been a 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 149 

semi-fashionable private residence. But as trade 
encroached upon the street, this building had de- 
generated to an apartment house. 

While the house stood tenantless' Dick amused 
himself by imagining that it was his own residence. 

'' It is my house," he would say, "and I am trav- 
eling abroad, and it is closed. By and by I shall 
come home, and there will be a great house-warm- 
in', and lights in every window and flower-pots on 
the sills, and pretty curtains and life and fun ; for 
I am a very rich young man with lots of money, 
and I always have everything very gay around 
me." 

Dr. Griffin used to encourage the boy in his fan- 
cies, thinking they relieved the monotony of his 
dreary life. " Well, I see you are still traveling 
abroad, Dick," he used to say. " That house of 
yours is still closed. No idea when you will return, 
have you ? " 

" No, I'm havin' too good a time to come back 
yet awhile," Dick would answer. " Haven't half 
seen the world yet." 

But one day there were people moving about on 
the ground floor of the house, and Dick heard his 
grandfather say it was to be made into flats, and 
let to separate families. 

The next time Dr. Griffin called, he greeted the 
boy with — 

*' Hello 1 Dick^ welcome home ! I see you have 
returned from abroad." 



I50 HOW SALVATOR WON, 

Dick shook his head soberly. " Oh, no ! " he 
replied, '* I am not back yet. But I got tired of hav- 
in^ my house stay empty — thought I might as 
well let it help pay my expenses (it's awful expen- 
sive travelin', you know), so I've got some tenants in 
the house. Goin' to let each floor separate, 'cause 
it is too expensive a house for anybody to take 
whole, 'cept some rich feller like me." 

During the last six months the floor exactly op- 
posite Dick^s window had been vacant. After three 
months had passed without a tenant, he told Dr. 
Griffin that he had decided to reserve that floor for 
his own use. 

" I'm goin' to come home pretty soon and settle 
down, you see," he said, " and so I thought I'd 
keep that floor for myself. I don't need the whole 
house, and I can just as well let the other tenants 
stay." 

And now, after three months more had passed, 
here were people moving into his apartments ! 

Dr. Griffin called that very afternoon, and found 
Dick looking unusually animated. 

" Well, well, Dick ! " he exclaimed. " So, after 
all you've decided to rent your apartments ? You 
have neighbors, I see. I fear you will never return 
now and settle down as you intended." 

" Why, that's no neighbors, Doctor," replied 
Dick, contemptuously; *' that's my family, IVe 
come home to stay, and brought my family, you 
see." 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 151 

" You don't tell me so ! Why, what a stupid old 
fellow I am, to be sure ! " cried the Doctor, with 
feigned self-scorn. *' How large a family have you, 
Dick?" 

" Well, only — only one, as I care 'specially about. 
Look — look at her. Doctor ! " catching the Doctor s 
hand and leaning forward in his chair. " See her 
a-fixin' the nice little curtain at the window ? She^s 
a regular neat one, she is, my little woman over 
there. She was a-cleanin' the windows and things 
this mornin' with her hair so slick and a span clean 
apron on. That's the kind of girl I like. I allers 
liked that kind. Isn't she the right kind, eh. Doc- 
tor?" 

Dr. Griffin saw a trim young woman with rosy 
cheeks, looping back scrim curtains with pink rib- 
bons. He nodded gravely. 

" From my brief acquaintance, I should say she 
was," he answered. ^' I congratulate you on your 
good luck. With such a family as that, you ought 
to be a happy fellow ! " 

" Queer little fellow ; queer little fellow," he said 
to himself, as he went down the stairs. " Strange 
notion that about his home and family." 

When Dick awoke the following day he felt a 
new sense of happiness in the thought of his neigh- 
bor opposite. He hurried through his tedious cer- 
emony of dressing, ate his frugal breakfast, hob- 
bled into his invalid-chair, and gave an eager 
glance across the street. Yes, there were the dainty 



152 HOW S ALVA TOR WON, 

curtains still at the window, so it was no dream. 
He watched for a glimpse of the occupant, but she 
did not appear. Then he laughed a little softly to 
himself. 

"Of course, she wouldn't be hangin' around the 
window at all hours ; she isn't that sort ; and, of 
course, I'm over there now, and she's a-pourin* 
coffee for me ; we take breakfast sort of late to- 
day, 'cause we're just home from Europe, and I 
haven't gone down to the office yet. After I get 
off she'll brush around and set things to right, and 
— hello ! I must have gone now you know for there 
she is a-v/hiskin' the dust off the window-sill as 
pretty as ever and as neat as a pin. All the time 
I'm down at the of!ice with them pesky clerks of 
mine a-botherin' me I'll be thinkin' of that sweet 
little woman up here waitin' for me." 

** We do have very sociable times," Dick told the 
Doctor a month later. " That little woman and I 
seem made for each other. She's just the right 
sort. We never have no fusses, and things go so 
comfortable-like all the time." 

"And how do you like the other party? There's 
a man there also, I see. How do you like him ? " 

Dick flushed painfully, and a deep frown settled 
on his face. There was a man whom he saw from 
time to time sitting at the window after the dinner 
hour reading his paper. But the moment he made 
his appearance, Dick closed his eyes or left the 
window seat. He regarded the man as an intruder 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 153 

— a shadow upon his home life, a serpent in his 
Eden. 

Sunday was a day of restlessness and discontent, 
because the man was there all day long, and on 
Sundays he avoided the invalid-chair, which was 
his seat on all other days. Now, when he heard 
Dr. Griffin speak of the man as a real being, he suf- 
fered all the bitter and mortifying pangs of jeal- 
ousy which might come to a man who hears a 
stranger give words to a suspicion of his wife's dis- 
loyalty to which he has striven to blind himself. 

" A man — a — yes — there's a man there some- 
times," Dick stammered ; *'he's a — a sort of poor 
relative, don't you know. One of my relations, you 
see, and I can't very well turn him off." 

" Oh, I see," answered the Doctor, noticing 
Dick's confusion and hastening to help him out. 
"Well, everybody has some one of that sort. I've 
half a dozen poor relatives who live on me Some 
one of them is with us most of the time. A little un- 
comfortable occasionally may be, because every 
man's house is his castle where he wants to be 
alone at times. But we who have homes have no 
right to be selfish ; we must share them with less 
fortunate people. Happiness must not make us 
selfish." 

Dick's face brightened. His heart had grown 
light and happy while the Doctor spoke. 

" That's just what I tell myself and the little 
woman," he said. "Often she doesn't like to have 



154 HO IV S ALVA TOR WON, 

the fellow droppin' in and spoilin' our chats " 
(Dick felt an immense satisfaction in saying this), 
"but I tell her with just our two selves we'd get 
selfish with happiness unless we had somethin' to 
do for another. But he does break up our Sundays 
awfully — scarcely can get a word alone, that fel- 
low's pokin' around so." 

" Oh, well, you can afford him one day in the 
week, and I wouldn't let him bother me ; just be 
as happy as if he wasn't around." 

Somehow Dick felt much better after this talk. 
He had tried to ignore the presence of the man op- 
posite, but now he could acknowledge it, and defi- 
nitely locate the man in his thought as a poor 
dependent, who was benefitted by his bounty. He 
enjoyed thinking that the little woman objected 
more or less to the fellow, and that she allowed 
him so much liberty only to please Dick. As the 
weeks rolled on he confessed to the Doctor that 
the fellow was really useful at times. 

" Rainy days he goes to market for the little 
woman/' he said, " and often runs out on errands 
for us." 

" Dick's house " had been occupied six months 
when a whole week passed without his seeing his 
"little woman " at the window. During that six 
months there had scarcely been an afternoon dur- 
ing which she had not sat for an hour or two at 
the window with her sewing. Dick had grown, to 
think of that hour as the bright spoke in the v/heel 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 155 

of the day. She looked at him so kindly and 
gently, and he used to imagine he was lying on a 
lounge in the room, reading aloud to her as she 
sewed, and that her kind, warm smile was one of 
love, not of pity. And when a whole week passed 
without his once seeing her, Dick found himself 
in a nervous fever, with a blinding headache from 
having gazed so eagerly and anxiously across 
the street, and Grandfather Levy sent for Dr. 
Griffin, 

'' There's somethin' the matter over the way," 
whispered Dick, as soon as the Doctor was alone 
with him. "I haven't seen her for a whole week; 
there's a strange woman there, and I'm sure she's 
sick. I couldn^t sleep all last night for worryin' 
about her." 

Dr. Griffin went to the window and looked out. 
Then he took a magnifying glass from his pocket, 
and deliberately stared into the window opposite. 

Then he went back to Dick. *' My dear fellow," 
he said, ''you are to be congratulated. You are a 
father. I saw the nurse walking up and down the 
room with the child in her arms. It is a bad habit, 
by the way, and you must tell her not to teach it 
to the child. You can't begin too young with 
them." 

After the Doctor went away, Dick buried his face 
in his pillow and wept softly. 

" A little baby — yes, my little baby," he whis- 
pered. " God bless the little woman. Some day 



156 now S ALVA TOR WON, 

she will sit with it at the window, and I shall have 
them both for company." 

And then one day, a soft, warm day, late in May, 
there she sat at the window again, with lilies instead 
of roses in her cheeks, and the bundle of flannel in 
her arms. She smiled at Dick, and tears of joy and 
love welled up in his eyes as he gazed upon the two. 

" I've got two of 'em for company now, the little 
woman and the baby,^' he whispered. 

After that the days seemed very happy and 
bright, and Dick thought himself the richest man 
on earth. Only he wondered why the roses did 
not come back to the little woman's cheeks. 

*^ She doesn't look as well as she ought to," he 
told the Doctor one day in June, and the Doctor, 
peering over his spectacles, shook his head as he 
looked at her, but Dick did not see it. 

Passing down the block one day. Dr. Griffin 
came face to face with a little girl who wheeled a 
baby carriage, and, as he glanced under the awn- 
ing, he was startled to see two weirdly brilliant 
eyes, the very counterpart of Dick's, gazing up at 
him. 

"Whose child is this ? Does it live over in the 
brick flats there ?" queried the Doctor, 

The little girl nodded. 

"Second flight up?" 

"Yes, sir." 

" Queer enough, queer enough," he mused, as 
he walked on. 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 157 

" Your baby has eyes exactly like you, Dick," said 
the Doctor, a few days later, "■ Honestly, no jok- 
ing ; I saw the little fellow on the street and knew 
him by his eyes." 

After that Dick's heart went out to the baby 
more and more, and he was eager to see it. One 
day he saw the little nurse-girl wheeling the car- 
riage, and as fast as his lame body would permit 
he hurried and hobbled down to the street, hoping 
it would pass near him. Sure enough it did, and 
Dick's heart jumped into his throat as he leaned 
on his cane and peered into the carriage to catch 
his first glimpse of the baby he had grown to think 
of as his own. Yes, those were his own eyes — his 
very own gazing up at him, and he touched the 
little hand with reverence and awe. The baby 
laughed and twisted its small soft fingers about 
his thumb, and clung to his hand as if unwilling to 
let him go. For weeks after that he would v/ake 
at night, thinking he felt that clinging touch upon 
his hand ; and those great dark, startled eyes, the 
very counterpart of his own, seemed illuminating 
the night for him. 

It was early November when he failed to see the 
baby at the window or on the street ; nor did the 
mother appear at the window for four days. The 
morning of the fifth day, Dick saw from his 
window a little white hearse drawn by white 
ponies pause at the house opposite, and then 
some one came out with a small gasket followed 



158 HOJV S ALVA TOR WON, 

by the "■ male relative " and a few sad-faced 
friends. 

That day Dick entered Gethsemane, and the 
mourners who followed the little baby to its last 
resting-place shed no bitterer tears than he. Mixed 
with his keen anguish for the loss of the child waS 
fear for the life of the mother who was too ill to 
attend the burial. 

That night Dr. Griffin was sent for, and he found 
Dick so ill and feverish that he was alarmed. His 
tears mingled with Dick's, when the poor boy told 
him of the baby's death, and begged him to go 
over and inquire after the "little woman." 

"You can ask the janitor, Doctor; just say 
friends opposite want to inquire after her ; you 
needn't say no more." 

The Doctor did as Dick desired, and came back 
shortly, making an effort to speak cheerfully. 

" The janitor says Mrs. — " 

"The little woman," interrupted Dick. "Yes, yes; 
how is she ? " Not for worlds would he have heard 
her name spoken. 

" She is ill, suffering from a prostration caused by 
grief," the Doctor replied. " But she is young, and 
she will rally in a few weeks no doubt. You must 
brace up, old man, and be ready to comfort her. If 
you don't look after yourself a little better I won't 
promise for the consequences to your health. 
You've overtaxed yourself lately, and you must 
keep very quiet now for a few days," 



AND OTHER RECITATIONS. 159 

But each day Dick dragged himself to the win- 
dow to see if the little woman was visible. And on 
the tenth day after the baby's funeral, a black 
hearse with nodding black plumes, and black 
horses with jet harness and dangling black tassels, 
stood at the house opposite ; and Dick, with pant- 
ing breath and wild eyes, crawled down the stairs, 
and out upon the street, for he seemed choking in 
the house, and he thought he must hinder those 
cruel people from taking away the little woman. 
He could not, could not let her go from him for- 
ever, and when he saw them lifting the casket into 
the hearse, he reached out his arms, tried to cry out 
and stop them, and then he fell over weak and help- 
less, with strange sounds ringing in his ears and 
warm blood spurting from his mouth. When 
he awoke to consciousness he was lying on his 
couch, and Dr. Griffin and Grandfather Levy were 
bending over him with tears in their eyes. 

He tried to speak, and with each syllable the 
blood gushed again from his lips. 

" You mustn't talk," said the Doctor. " You are 
very weak and it may be fatal to you if you do not 
keep quiet." 

He drew the Doctor's head down close to his 
lips. 

" It's no use tryin' to save me," he whispered. 
" I'd rather go — I couldn't stand it livin' on with 
both of 'em gone. I've nothin' to live for now — no 
ambition or pleasure left I've had all the pleasure 



i6o 



HO IV S ALVA TOR WON. 



I'll ever get out of life, Doctor, this year back. It's 
kinder to let me go — -and — follow my family." 



The hemorrhage set in anew, and with the red 
gushing tide, Dick^s soul passed out to seek those 
of the little woman and the baby. 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: Oct. 2009 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 

111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



